Macau Open Video- Taufik Hidayat's best game of 2008

G'day badminton lovers!

Guess today must be my lucky day as I've managed to find a video of Macau Open's best final match! You guys who missed the match must watch the video as it's the best performance of Taufik this year and I have not seen him play this well before.. Did you know that Taufik holds the fastest smash for the Men's Singles? His fastest smash is 305 km/h (189 mph) which is much faster than a tennis player! Well today just shows you how fast his smashes are.. We also know that Chong Wei is one of the best retrievers and one of the fastest players in the court and yet he had no answers to Taufik's smashes..

On top of that, we also know that Chong Wei is a very tricky player and he's fast to the net, quick in tapping opponents net plays. Again, Taufik shows us how accurate his net plays are, which Chong Wei could not tap. Taufik had deceived Chong Wei many times with his trick shots, which I found amuzing.

Finally, Taufik made 2 killer finishings to the 2 sets!! Check out Taufik's last smash on the first set! That's what I call accuracy! :) Also his final return of Chong Wei's net shot.. WOW!

Lets let the badminton do the talking! Enjoy peeps! Do feel free to share what you think of the game..

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Ciao da mao!

Mark

Macau Open - Taufik Hidayat wins first title of the year!

Wow! What a fantastic performace by Taufik in the Macau Open finals 2008! Taufik Hidayat, played Lee Chong Wei in the finals and I predicted that he would lose to Chong Wei as I felt Chong Wei is a much faster and fit player. I was wrong and what an exciting finals it was..

Taufik looked like he was back to him glorious form as he played a brilliant game againts Chong Wei. Taufik knew he had a long task ahead as Chong Wei was fitter and faster than him. What Taufik did was he pulled Chong Wei to various corners of the court forcing Chong Wei to hit half court shots for Taufik's smashing winners. Taufik won the game 21-19 and 21-15.

It's been a while since I've seen Taufik play such an aggresive and attacking play. His trick shots were much more deceptive and his net shots were sharper than Chong Wei's. In all angles, Taufik looked to be the player he was 4 years back and Chong Wei had no reply to Taufik's game. With this form, I think if Taufik were fit for the Olympics, Chong Wei would have lost to him in the early stages.

"The key (for my victory) was to win the first game. Then in the second game, I felt less pressure to play my best," Taufik was quoted as saying by Antara.

“Chong Wei is known for his attacking, explosive and deceptive game. But he was extra cautious today and allowed Taufik to take total control,” Misbun said.

“Taufik is an intelligent player and he knows how to take advantage (of situations). Chong Wei will just have to continue with his efforts to justify his ranking as world number one. He has given his best and it will be more training for him after this,” said Misbun Sidek (Chong Wei's coach).

I am happy for Taufik as I think he is the only few players in the world who can take on Lin Dan and challenge for the world No. 1 spot. As for Chong Wei, he has to start winning tournaments to prove his world No. 1 Status..

Cant seem to find the finals video online.. if you manage to find it do let me know.. Also do share what you think of the mens singles finals!

Macau Open Video 2008

It seems to be very difficult to get my hands of some tournament pictures. I really wonder who does the updates for badminton tournament sites as its not done well enough like a tennis tournament site. I think for the game to pick up, these small things like a proper, relavent and updated website is needed.

WBF and BAM, I think you need to relook at your website strategy as a main channel to grow the sport. Millions and millions of people turn to the web to get updates of badminton as the game is not broadcasted in their countries. Since the internet is an open medium of communication, why do it up well with videos, interviews, blogs from players to increase the viewership. If you are reading this, do contact me and I would love to help ya out! :)

Here are some Macau Open video for badminton lovers around the world! Enjoy and I do hope that more and more people would be helping me find badminton videos for me to post up.

Ciao da mao

Macau Open - Koo Kien Keat, Tan Boon Heong vs Chieh Min Fang, Lee Sheng Mu Mens Doubles Finals

In the doubles, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong (M’sia) finally got their act together to reach the finals of the Macau Open. The top seeds defeated Fernando Kurniawan and Lingga Lie (Ind) 21-14 & 25-23.

In the other finals, my buddy Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng (M’sia) fell to second seeds Chieh Min Fang and Lee Sheng Mu (TPE) in three sets, 18-21, 21-14 & 11-21. I was really crossing my fingers to see Chong Ming and Chew Eng win the game as it would be an interesting to see two Malaysians play in the finals.

Oh well, that didn’t seem to happen and now it would be a different ball game for Kien Keat and Boon Heong as all of Malaysia will be looking at them to win. If they fail to win, somehow I feel that their time is running out as Rexy would be splitting the pair. Lets see what happens..

Ciao da mao..

Macau Open - Julia Wong vs Mi Zhou Womens Singles Finals

Julia Wong (M’sia) makes her first finals of the year by defeating fourth seed Pui Yin Yip (HK) 17-21, 23-21 & 21-17 in 60 minutes. Before this tournament, I would not have expected Julia to go this far if one would have asked me but her steady performance this tournament is a boost to her and Malaysia’s womens singles.

Mi Zhou (HK) is making her second finals in a row after taking the Chinese Masters last week. She had a difficult game againts Jinging Zhu (Chi) winning 20-22, 21-18 & 21-16 in 59 minutes.

Mi Zhou a former Chinese player will use her experience and her high morale from last weeks win to take Julia in the finals. I think Mi Zhou will take the game in three sets as Julia lacks the experience and it would be her first finals. What do you think? Mi Zhou will take it easily? or will there be an upset?

Ciao

Macau Open Taufik Hidayat vs Lee Chong Wei - Mens Singles Finals

Hi guys..

Its going to be an exciting finals in this Macau Open.. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Taufik Hidayat (Ind) play Lee Chong Wei (M’sia) and it would be a fun to watch match. Taufik defeated Kuan Beng Hong (M’sia) 21-11 & 21-12 in 29 minutes while Chong Wei defeated Yunus Alamsyah (Ind) 21-13 & 21-14 in 37 minutes.

Taufik is one of my favourite players in the world who is also one of the most talented however I think Chong Wei will take the game easily. For Taufik to win, he has to take the first game and push hard for the second. If the game goes to three sets, I think Taufik is not fully fit to win. Chong Wei is the top seed and should take the game in two sets.

What do you guys think? Taufik or Chong Wei? Straight games or three sets?

Ciao
Mark

Yonex Japan Open 2008 - Semi’s Round ups and Videos

Men's Singles

To start off the Semi's roundups, I would like to begin with Lee Chong Wei (M'sia) who picked up his pace and form to win easily againts Joachim Persson (Den) 21-6 & 21-4. It was cruise control for Chong Wei as Persson could not find a way to break thru Chong Wei's defence and Chong Wei played with so much confidence with consistent strokes and smashes to win. It was like as though Chong Wei was just toying around with Persson. Thanks to our buddy mmorita3 in YouTube, we're able to have a video on the games.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Fs58qCbr4]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpw_szQrWEM]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSnOFzvdnDc]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRyulTrmLeg]

In the other Semi's Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ind) defeated Kenichi Tago (Japan) 21-15 & 21-16. It was not an easy game as one would assume for Sony has he was made to work hard againts the homeboy Kenichi. However Sony's experience played an important role as he kept his composure to win.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVM5OccJ5iM]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wwsUuRDQ-Q]

Women's Singles

There were two upsets in the singles when last years champion Tine Rasmussen (Den), lost to Wang Yihan (Chn) 21-15 & 21-18.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB7qPpaIKjU]

The other upset came when Zhou Mi (Hongkong) defeated world no. 2 Lu Lan (Chi) in 3 sets 21-9, 13-21, & 13-21. Zhou commented “It has been a long time not to meet Lu in the match whose stroke style has changed. In fact, I was playing as if we met first time and the difficulty to adapt the wind direction due to air condition made me lost the first game.” But Zhou could recover very well from the second and played better in third game.

Men's Doubles
Young Indonesian pair, Ahsan/Septano, won the match against fellow Indonesians Yonatan Suryatama Dasuki, Rian Sukmawan 21-16 and 21-19. Septano commented that he is very happy and didn’t expect to go this far. Looks like Indonesia has some young talent in the rise and it can be worrying to Malaysia if they continue to groom these talents to the right direction.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtUCMuBunb8]

In the other doubles, second seed Lars Paaske, Jonas Rasmussen (Den) defeated home favourites Keita Masuda, Tadashi Ohtsuka (Jpn) 21-17 & 21-16. Both pairs played some good badminton however the experience Lars and Jonas played a much more attacking play forcing the Japanese pair to defend most of the time. Heart breaking moment for the Japanese fans as their players failed to qualify for a finals this time around.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9TQNuGBZ-U]

Women's Doubles
Cheng Su, Zhao Yunlei (Chn) defeated Miyuki Maeda, Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) 21-15, 21-16. The Japanese pair had many chances to attack however, their attack could not break thru to Cheng and Zhao's defence hence forcing them to lift to the Chinese pair. It was more or less a one sided game however credit to Park Joo Bong for bringing the Japanese pair this far.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OJl_2hLdK0]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpX6XRn5OFc]

Malaysia's Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui continued their fine run by reaching their first ever Japan Open Finals defeating Vita Marissa , Liliyana Natsir (Ind) 21-11 18-21 21-18. Well done to Pei Tty and Eei Hui. I think it would be a good final to watch however I favour the Chinese to win this.

Mix Doubles
It's an all Indonesia finals in the Mix doubles when Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir (Ind) and Muhammad Rijal/Vita Marissa (Ind) managed to overcame their opponents to make it a dream Indonesian finals.

Thats all folks.. Will update ya'll with the final results!

Ciao da mao