Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2007-10-29

Chinese shuttlers stormed into four of Sunday’s five finals.

An injured Zhang Ning once again had to fight until the very end in a marathon match against Wang Chen of Hong Kong. Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard chose the right time to peak and disposed of 2006 world champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China in the day’s longest and most exciting match. The only other Europeans to play on Sunday are Robertson and Emms of England.

The day started off with a strong performance in mixed doubles by England’s best pair of Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms. In concordance with their record against Thais Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongam of Thailand, the English won 21-19, 21-17.

In the other semi-final, He Hanbin and Yu Yang of China easily dispatched compatriots Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen. In what hardly looked like a Super Series semi-final, the latter displayed none of the excellent badminton they had played so far at this tournament.

Their play was characterised by a serious lack of communication and a series of strange club-level mistakes. Xie and Zhang barely reacted on some shots and displayed almost no will despite the stakes involved. He and Yu won 21-12, 21-15 in less than 30 minutes.

Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard were on fire in their match against former world champions Cai-Fu. In the first game, the Chinese were often surprised by Eriksen’s natural talent at intercepting drives and went down 16-21. The Asians replied with a series of well-placed smashes on Lundgaard’s backhand which put them in the lead for the most part of the second game that ended in their favour at 23-21.

In the final game, the Danes seemed mentally solid as opposed to the Chinese who looked a bit uneasy. The Chinese coach even allowed himself to shout instructions to his players during the rallies but it wasn’t enough as the Danes offered one of their best performances ever on Danish soil and closed out the match with a score of 21-16, 21-23, 21-19, thus assuring a Danish presence on finals day.

The other men’s doubles was dominated by Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia who regained their form of early 2007 and easily dispatched reigning world champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 21-18, 21-10. With their victories against the Danes in the latter stages of this year’s All England and Swiss Open in March, the Malaysians should have the psychological advantage to take the title.

World champion Lin Dan was inconsistent in his match against Kenneth Jonassen, the lone Danish survivor in men’s singles. In the first game, Lin showed his superiority by moving Jonassen from one end of the court to the other. The strategy backfired when Jonassen took some chances and grabbed the 2nd game by the narrowest of margins at 22-20. In the third game, the Chinese went back to his original strategy and ended the rallies with unanswered crosscourt smashes. A frustrated Kenneth Jonassen conceded the match 21-13, 20-22, 21-13 in favour of the world champion.

In men’s singles, Lee Chong Wei started strong against left-handed Bao Chunlai to take the first game at 11. His smashes along the lines and excellent net shots earned him many points but the relaxed Chinese never panicked and slowly got back into the game. A thankful Bao showed his appreciation to the crowd when the match ended in his favour (11-21, 21-18, 21-16).

Lu Lan hardly broke a sweat in her 21-12, 21-10 win in the women’s singles against reigning world champion Zhu Lin. The same cannot be said of Zhang Ning who had to go all the way against former compatriot Wang Chen in the other semi-final. In her fourth consecutive match over 50 minutes at the Denmark Open, Zhang once again survived and left the court with a 18-21 21-17, 21-18 victory under her belt.

“Because of my thigh injury, this tournament is very tiring for me. I wanted to withdraw after my first round match against Persson of Sweden, but I decided to keep on playing and here I am with a place in the final,” said Zhang Ning.

“Lu Lan is in good condition so tomorrow’s match will be tough. Perhaps it will be another three-setter.”

In women’s doubles, Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg couldn’t do anything against Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen of China who seemed to have an answer for every shot thrown at them. To the amusement of the crowd, Yang Wei was so relaxed that she could be seen walking during the rallies. In the second semi-final, Lee and Lee of Korea dominated Yu Yang and Zhao Tingting of China 21-19, 21-13.

(Credit: BWF. Click here for further information.)