Badminton 2020 Discussion Thread

[Vic Liu 1,682]

6 minutes ago, Griff88 said:

 

Head coach Ahn Jae Chang allegedly was the one who forced Seo to sign contract with Incheon, the atmosphere in the national team will be different

 

Yes, I don't quite understand how the national and local team work in Korea. This new is confusing for me.

[Griff88 1,952]

1 minute ago, Vic Liu said:

 

Yes, I don't quite understand how the national and local team work in Korea. This new is confusing for me.

 

Seems like when someone is appointed as 'national coach' in Korea, they don't completely leave the coach position in the club too... Conflict of interests are bound to happen

[Griff88 1,952]

The last day action of Italian Junior is cancelled as Minister of Youth and Sports instructed to suspend all sport events scheduled in Lombardia.

[up and down 82]

Lingshui China Open, German Open, Polish Open and Vietnam Open have all been postponed due to the widespread of the Coronavirus. Now there is also the probability that All England Open and Swiss Open might also be postponed due to the widespread of Coronavirus in the European Continent as well. We just have to keep following the latest news to know about the latest development.

 

https://bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2020/02/28/important-covid-19-updates/

 

BWF has published a series of Frequently Asked Questions related to COVID-19 and the different impacts this has on various groups within the badminton community.

 

It includes implications for players and teams related to regulations, entries and withdrawals, rankings and reimbursement if a tournament is postponed or cancelled.

COVID-19: Important Information for the Badminton Community

 

With particular reference to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualification, BWF is not at this time planning to make any adjustments to the regulations related to the Olympic qualification period.

 

The announcement states: “It is unfortunate that some tournaments have been postponed or cancelled and BWF appreciates that these tournaments have been part of players’ plans to seek qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and other tournaments where qualification is required (such as the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals).

 

“Any change to the existing Olympic qualification rules will affect different players both positively or negatively, and with the present level of postponement and cancellation, BWF does not believe that making changes is appropriate.

 

“The postponement or cancellation of tournaments is not within the control of hosts, BWF or the badminton community, but is caused by ongoing developments as a result of COVID-19 in different areas of the world and decisions will be taken based on information provided by public health authorities.”

 

All other tournaments on the BWF calendar within the Olympic qualification period are scheduled to run.

 

BWF and the hosts are closely monitoring the situation in countries where scheduled tournaments are hosted and will inform the badminton community immediately if the status of these tournaments change.

 

The health, safety and wellbeing of players, their entourage, fans, officials and all other concerned parties as the top priority.

 

 

https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2020/02/26/bwf-media-statement-on-yonex-german-open-2020-2/

 

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm the YONEX German Open 2020 to be staged in Mülheim an der Ruhr next week will no longer take place on its scheduled dates of 3-8 March.

 

The City of Mülheim took the decision earlier today (Wednesday) in line with its own rules and procedures due to restrictions in place over the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.

 

“After medical advice from Mülheim’s public health department and a process of consideration, we (City of Mülheim) cancelled the event at the scheduled time,” the city’s statement read.

 

German Badminton Association (GBA) confirmed the decision by the City of Mülheim shortly after.

No concrete plans or decisions have been made in regards to the immediate future of the tournament other than that it won’t occur next week.

 

BWF and GBA accept the decision citing the welfare of players, their entourage, fans and officials at the tournament as the main priority.

 

The tournament is a Super 300 event on the HSBC BWF World Tour as well as being an Olympic qualifier.

 

The BWF is continuing to monitor all official updates on Covid-19 (Coronavirus) with no change to the intention to stage other HSBC BWF World Tour or BWF-sanctioned tournaments.

 

Polish Open 2020 Postponed

 

Polish Badminton Association (PBA) today also postponed the Polish Open 2020 – an upcoming Badminton Europe circuit tournament.

PBA said in a letter to Badminton Europe: “Due to the growing sanitary and epidemiological threat posed by Covid-19 (Coronavirus), the Board of the Polish Badminton Association, after consultation with the District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Krakow, the Crisis Management Department in Krakow, the Department of Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Sport and Health, have decided to postpone the Polish Open 2020.”

 

The tournament, set for Krakow 26-29 March, was a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

 

New dates are being earmarked but the tournament will no longer fall inside the Olympic qualification period.

 

https://olympics.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2020/02/25/bwf-statement-on-postponement-of-vietnam-international-challenge-2020/

 

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm the decision to postpone the CIPUTRA HANOI – YONEX SUNRISE Vietnam International Challenge 2020 until 2-7 June, due to continued concerns over the Covid-19 outbreak.

 

The decision was made on the advice of the Vietnam Sports Administration linked to strict health protection restrictions in place in Vietnam.

 

BWF accepts that all relevant health, safety and logistical risks were considered by Vietnam Badminton Federation (VBF), Vietnam Sports Administration, and Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) in making the decision and that the welfare of players, their entourage, fans and officials at the tournament was the main priority.

 

The tournament was due to take place from 24-29 March 2020 and was a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

 

BWF, BAC and VBF as the tournament hosts are in dialogue with Member Associations and players to adjust travel plans and revise tournament planning.

 

Considering the new 2-7 June date, ranking points from this event will no longer contribute to Olympic qualifying as it will be outside the qualification window.

 

The BWF is continuing to monitor all official updates on Covid-19 and is mindful that HSBC BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments may be affected, but there are no concrete plans or decisions at this point to change the status of any other events.

 

BWF will continue to update the entire badminton community on any further announcements related to the situation.

[Vic Liu 1,682]

Anybody will watch All England? a big event for Olympic ranking but seems the condition of the Asian Games champion Christie is still terrible like when he was in Asian championships.

Edited March 11, 2020 by Vic Liu

[Griff88 1,952]

42 minutes ago, Vic Liu said:

Anybody will watch All England? a big event for Olympic ranking but seems the condition of the Asian Games champion Christie is still terrible like when he was in Asian championships.

In the interview, it seems that the match vs Cheam June Wei still haunts him.

 

As usual most Indonesian players still lack in mental strength

[Vic Liu 1,682]

2 minutes ago, Griff88 said:

In the interview, it seems that the match vs Cheam June Wei still haunts him.

 

As usual most Indonesian players still lack in mental strength

 

That game is really dramatic, but his previous games were also not in good condition. But his quota seems confirmed, he still has time to recover.

[Griff88 1,952]

Vittinghus urged BWF to cancel the circuit if they actually cared about the players. But I think BWF won't budge until someone is infected 

[up and down 82]

https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2020/03/13/all-england-memorable-win-for-ellis-smith/

 

ALL ENGLAND: MEMORABLE WIN FOR ELLIS & SMITH
  
Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith’s dream run at the YONEX All England 2020 continued as they completed a sensational quarterfinal win against Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet from three match points down.

Lauren Smith was as effective in attack as in defence.

 

Their first top-tier semifinal will therefore be at event they grew up watching.

 

Through the first two games the match was an absorbing affair. The Hong Kong pair went ahead 26-24 in the first game; the second too was neck-and-neck until Tang and Tse pulled away at the end, holding three match points.

 

Lauren Smith Steps Up

Smith’s superb defense and opportunism turned the tables on the Hongkongers at this stage, and once the England duo had the game in the bag, the match swung their way, 24-26 22-20 21-11.

 

“Incredible. Speechless, almost,” said Smith. “This is almost part of the dream when you play badminton in this country and when you’re younger you spot all your idols here, and to be part of it and to play here at the weekend – this is my first (top-tier) semifinals as well, so a great place to be that. So really happy and elated.”

 

“No matter what the situation, we always fight for every single point. And we could see in the second game, towards the end they were getting tired, so we desperately wanted to be in the third, because we knew we had the fitness and stamina to take the win, so we really dug in our heels at the end, we fought every single shot and we almost relaxed a little bit because it felt calm.”

 

Ellis however was denied a semifinals place in men’s doubles, as he and Chris Langridge went down in a well-contested match to Russians Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov, 21-18 11-21 21-8.

 

Match of the Day

While there were several close encounters, one of those that stood out was Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti’s hard-fought 15-21 21-19 21-19 result over second seeds Wang Yi Lyu/Huang Dong Ping.

 

The Indonesians were down a game and 10-18 in the second. With their backs to the wall, Jordan and Oktavianti threw everything they had. Jordan’s ferocious assault from the back and Oktavianti’s follow-up kills gave the Chinese little to work with, as the Indonesians pocketed 11 of the last 12 points to take the match to a decider. There was no let-up in the third game either, and Jordan and Oktavianti kept their momentum to finish victors in 72 minutes.

Melati Daeva Oktavianti.

 

Talking Point

“I was so focussed on what I had to do. You can see that from the score in the second game. I enjoyed it a lot. As you can see, I was smiling even when I lost a point. I did amazing today, I just enjoyed it. This feeling is really important and I have to keep going on,” – Carolina Marin, after beating Akane Yamaguchi 21-15 21-12.

 

Other Results
Nozomi Okuhara avenged the devastating 21-7 21-7 defeat that she’d suffered in the final of the World Championships to Pusarla V Sindhu, beating the Indian 12-21 21-15 21-13 in today’s semifinal.

 

Chinese Taipei’s Wang Chi-Lin/Lee Yang made their first Super 1000 semifinals, getting the better of Liu Cheng/Huang Kai Xiang, 18-21 21-18 21-14.
The men’s singles semifinals will see top seed Chou Tien Chen against Anders Antonsen, and second seed Viktor Axelsen against Lee Zii Jia. Antonsen beat compatriot Rasmus Gemke 21-10 21-13, while Axelsen was just as comfortable against Shi Yu Qi, 21-15 21-7.

 

ALL ENGLAND: CLASSY LEE ZII JIA THWARTS CHEN LONG
  
A finely balanced performance by Lee Zii Jia saw him through to the semifinals of the YONEX All England 2020 – the farthest he has gone in a major event so far.

In Lee’s 21-12 21-18 takedown of former champion Chen Long in the quarterfinals today, two elements shone through – new-found patience and consistency.

The score wasn’t reflective of how tight the match actually was, particularly in the second game with Chen always hovering close behind Lee. All through, the Malaysian had bided his time on every rally, pushing the pace only when he sensed his opportunity. When his rasping smashes were returned, he was unruffled – the waiting game commenced again, until the next injection of pace.

Lee won most of the exchanges at the net.
In many ways, Lee had dished out to Chen Long what the Olympic champion usually does to others – he showed the heart for a fight, was nimble in defence, and picked the moments when he had to rev up the pace. At the net, he barely made an error today.

Despite the magnitude of his achievement, Lee was understated in his analysis of the match.

 

“It is my first All England and I’m very happy to make the semifinals,” said the Malaysian. “He is a former world champion and reigning Olympic champion. This is our fourth meeting and he won the last match, so this was a revenge victory for me. I’m quite happy and looking forward to the semifinals.”

 

Today’s result was the quickest of the four matches they’ve played. All three of their previous matches had gone the distance. Lee won their first encounter, at the Indonesia Open last year, but Chen won both their subsequent clashes.

 

Lee acknowledged that it was his consistency and patience that had helped him stay the course against the third seed.

 

“I think for this event, from the first round I played very patiently. I made fewer mistakes. This is good improvement for me. Last time, my weakness was in making many unforced errors. I think I improved on that, so I’m happy.

 

“The atmosphere is very good, the audience is very friendly and they have supported me. There were some Malaysian fans also. Hopefully I will make them proud.”

[up and down 82]

I am beginning to like Marcus Ellis / Lauren Smith even more. Coming from a country whereby foot ball is the top priority and no funding not at all for badminton, this England XD pair have certainly proved it that hard work certainly pays off when both of them entered their first ever semifinals in a high tier All England tournament. Now both of them stand a high chance to become the first ever British XD pair to win the All England XD titles. Congratulations.