Samsonov would pwn them all back then in his prime..
Right now he still played amazingly but somehow his strokes are not that powerful anymore..
I believe Samsonov could beat the Chinese with enough determination and POWER (because his control over the ball is insane enough)..
Just look at his action in World Cup 2009 beating Chen Qi and Ma Long.. Wanna see that again for sure
hmmm nah, it depends on which Chinese player. Samsonov even in his prime sucked against Ma Lin. He usually lost against WLQ also, though WLQ did lose to him in the world cup finals one year.
As for the overall tournament, Boll seems to have gotten a lot better at counterlooping. He has never beat Xu Xin in the past, and normally when Xu Xin was able to start looping with his forehand, the point was as good as over. This time Boll was able to counter loop some of them back, prolong the point, and that made all the difference.
I am starting to lose some of my initial enthusiasm towards Xu Xin, sure his length and reach helps him get some great forehand loops once the point progresses to the mid game, but penhold style in general, is all about the short game and staying close to the table, and in that regard, it might be more advantageous to be Ma Lin and Wang Hao height....
Mizutani also played well, his backhand little flick down the line caused Xu Xin a lot of problems, and he was able to play more offensively. If he can keep improving, he will replace Boll as the biggest threat to China.
The Ma Long vs Boll match was just a huge slaughter....