After trying for quite some time, Jonas Lyduch and the BPF crew have managed to get Kenneth Jonassen (Denmark’s 2nd best player, Top 10 in the World) onto TrashTalk. You can watch the interview on Badmintonsite.com as well I have embedded their YouTube video below. Jonas asks Kenneth about his rivalry with Peter Gade, and why he can’t seem to beat Peter in spite of their close BWF World ranking. Interesting interview, check it out!.
Most of you have never seen their website before, but JustBad is badminton blog that is based in France (I think). They have posted an amazing badminton video on their website featuring Mihail Popov playing badminton with a little kid. While the badminton itself isn’t anything crazy, the video looks really cool. It looks like they had the camera on some sort of crane or something, and you might notice at the end how the camera goes over the net, and then under the net. Still can’t quite figure out how they did that. Anyway check out the video on JustBad.
The Thailand Open 2007 will begin starting next week with 3 of China’s top men’s players ready to dominate. Last year’s winner Chen Yu is back again at the tournament where he upset then world number 1 Lee Chong Wei en route to taking the title. He will have to watch out for Chen Jin and Chen Hong. So it looks like a battle of the Chen’s this year. Also not to be forgotten is hometown favourite, and fourth seed Boonsak Ponsana who recently won the Singapore Open Super Series event(where he beat Chen Yu actually). As usual we’re not too concerned (or interested) in the other events, especially since this isn’t a worlds or Super Series event. The men’s doubles is missing most of the top pairs, with Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah as the top ranked pair at this tournament. Here is a clip from the Singapore Open final where Boonsak Ponsana played Chen Yu. Enjoy!
I was sent a link to a really interesting story on thestar.com about something called “Blackminton” where they play Speedminton in black lights. Now, personally I find Speedminton to be an insult to the real badminton. It’s like they’ve re-packaged the whole “backyard badminton” thing in a new way. However, I found a video for Blackminton online that looks pretty cool. I’d like to see a match between Peter Gade and Lin Dan in a black lit badminton hall, THAT would be awesome. Perhaps the guys over at Badmintonsite.com can arrange something?? If anyone knows of a video of people playing real badminton in such a way let me know for sure. There was another video on YouTube about Blackminton as well that you might want to check out. Here is the video for your enjoyment! (The black light stuff is a couple minutes into the video)
Apparently Badminton World Federation Emperor, I mean Deputy President Datuk Punch Gunalan is in some more hot water over the release of a three year old letter where he was allegedly trying to convince the BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia) President that Malaysia should bid on getting the BWF head office, and that Gunalan’s knowledge of the other bids would allow them to do so. Here is an excerpt from a story by Sportcal on the issue
“The allegations surfaced at a dramatic BWF annual general meeting held in Glasgow last weekend, when the organisation’s president, Kang Young Joong was handed a three-year-old letter apparently implicating Punch in using his position at the international federation to pass on to the Badminton Association of Malaysia confidential information relating to rival bids to attract the international federation’s headquarters.
In a surprise move, the letter, written by Punch and addressed to the BAM’s president, was read out publicly at the AGM by Joong. It included the allegedly incriminating statement: ‘Since I am able to get all the necessary information regarding the other bids, it is important that our bid is better than any of the others.’”
This definitely looks fishy to me. I have to say that I do agree with the majority of the changes that have been made to badminton in the past couple years, from the scoring system to the Super Series structure. However, the way that Gunalan has gone about it has allows wreaked of sneaky tactics. We’ll see what comes out of this, but I don’t think Gunalan is going to come out unscathed. I wonder if the suspension of the BWF Chief Operating Officer is connected to this in any way? I wonder what impact a potential inquiry will have on the Badminton World Federation’s leadership? Anyway, here is an interview with the man Gunalan himself from the World Badminton Championships in Madrid this past September.
Here is a clip of the final mens doubles match at the Sudirman Cup between Indonesia and China. China’s Cai and Fu beat Indonesia’s Wijaya and Kido in this match quite easily. Too bad for Indonesia that Tony Gunawan plays for the USA now. They sure could have used him this time around. It’s also too bad for Indonesia that they can’t compete on the womens side, although nobody can compete with China in the womens events.
For anyone that is interested here is a link to any Sudirman Cup videos on YouTube. So far there aren’t any videos up from the final, but there is a video up featuring Lee Chong Wei against Lin Dan where Lee Chong Wei upsets Lin Dan, but it’s a very short video. Also, stay tuned for coverage of the upcoming World Championships in Malaysia, we’ll do our best to keep you informed.
The Badminton Players’ Federation has posted some more instructional videos, this time featuring Niels Christian Kaldau. Niels demonstrates how to return a short serve in singles by adding a little bit of variety to your shots. Enjoy!
The groups for the 2007 Sudirman Cup have been released and once again it looks like China will be the victors this year. Team China are seeded first with Team Denmark seeded second. Assuming the format of 5 matches (one per event), the only countries which I would say have a real chance are China, Denmark, and Indonesia. None of the other teams in group one have a legitimate chance to win three matches. Denmark has the potential to win men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles. Indonesia can win men’s singles, men’s doubles, and maybe mixed doubles (maybe). China can of course win all five events, and potentially with any of their teams (even back ups in most events). If Korea’s Lee Hyun Il was still playing regularly (he retired didn’t he???) they might be able to pull it off, but it’s unlikely.
In the majority of the lower groups it’s quite difficult to predict who will move up, but one thing I noticed was that India is in the third group, and I’d be surprised if they can’t move up. I think they are a really underrated country in terms of badminton results.
Badminton is really starting to gain some popularity on the west coast of the USA and Canada. I came across this video on YouTube from a CBS News Affiliate doing a story on the growth of badminton in the Bay Area. They went to the Golden Gate Badminton Club to see what the fuss is about. The story is some serious fluff, but good to see that they aren’t mocking it like we might expect.
Here in Canada there was recently an article in the Globe and Mail about badminton in Richmond, although they neglected to mention the clubs that started it all, ClearOne and ClearTwo!!!
