Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2007-08-17 From: Xinhuanet

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) — Danish Peter Gade is looking forward to meeting Lee Chong Wei after third round win over Simon Santoso of Indonesia in men’s singles at the world badminton championships here on Thursday.

Gade appeared desperate to win the first game and even led 18-15 but finally dropped at 18-21.

“I think for the first game I wanted to play a little bit better and I led at 18-15. So I think I should have won the game but Santoso made some charges and took chances. I felt frustrated losing the game,” he said.

“In the second, I think since this has been a further long match, I need to run a little bit with him. So I walked him along the court all the time, and I found in the middle of the second set he was getting tired. I knew I can continue this play with a lot of variations.”

Gade, 31, pulled off the second game 21-15.

“In the third, I think more variations is what I need, and I made it,” added the 2001 world champs runner-up. Gade wrapped up the match 21-16.

On his quarter-final opponent, Gade expected to be Lee Chong Wei.

“I hope it’s gonna be Choong Wei. This is what I am looking forward to. I think this is gonna be a good match. If I meet Sony (Dwi Kuncoro) I think my chances are better but of course I’d like to meet Chong Wei,” said Gade.

“I know it will be very difficult and he has a lot of supporters here but I am gonna take up his challenge.

“I know he played well in the past half year, but I beat him in the Thomas cup so I can beat him. I am gonna play my game,” he said.

Updated: 2007-08-17 From: Xinhuanet

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) — World number four Chen Jin of China crashed out of the world badminton championships in the third round of men’s singles here on Thursday.

Chen, third seed, succumbed to eleventh seeded Ronald Susilo of Singapore 19-21, 14-21.

“I did a bad job in the opening game and missed some crucial points. In the second, Susilo played better, controlled the game and enjoyed favorable wind,” said Chen, the 2007 Swiss Open champion.

Chen won his second round match against Roslin Hashim M. early in Thursday morning.

“I never finished a match so late, which affected me more or less because I went to sleep in 3 a.m. and got up in 9:30 in the morning,” added Chen.

Susilo said: “The first set is very important. After that, it is much easier for me in the second.”

Since beating Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in Singapore Open in May, this has been Susilo’s biggest win so far.

The two shuttlers never played before. By defeating Chen, Susilo has beat most Chinese top men’s singles players.

Susilo upset Lin Dan in the first round of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, and beat Bao Chunlai in the 2007 Philippines Open.

“Except Chen Hong, I did beat most Chinese top players but you can not say it’s easy for me to beat Chinese shuttlers,” said Susilo.

Susilo’s best worlds result was last 16 in 2003 and he aimed to enter last four this time.

“Compared with Athens (Olympics), I have not reached my best,” he said.

In the quarter final, Susilo might take on either Chen Yu or Park Sung Hwan.

Susilo’s winning ratio against Chen Yu is 1-2.

Earlier, He Hanbin/Yu Yang became first Chinese to be ousted at the worlds. The pair lost to Polish Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk 21-19, 17-21, 13-21.

It was He/Yu’s worlds debut since they were paired up.

Updated: 2007-08-17 From: Xinhuanet

KUALA LUMPUR, August 16 (Xinhua) — China’s dominance was tainted as He Hanbin/Yu Yang became China’s first pair to be ousted at the world badminton championships here on Thursday.

The Chinese pair lost to Polish Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk 21-19, 17-21, 13-21.

It was He/Yu’s worlds debut after they were paired up.

“We never played them before but we know they are very tough since they almost beat Chinese top mixed doubles pair Zheng Bo and Gao Ling in 2007 All England Open.” Yu said, “I did feel pitiful about the loss as we prepared well for the match.”

The Chinese duo were newly crowned Thailand Open champions while Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk were semifinalists in 2007 Swiss Open.

“We didn’t expect to win the first game. But after we won the first game, we thought we might beat them. However, we had no changes in the second game and they took advantage of our leaks and wrapped up the match.” He said.

Dejected Yu gave compliments to Mateusiak, saying Mateusiak was an all-around player and was good at continuous attacks.”

Updated: 2007-08-15 From: Xinhuanet

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — World No. 4 in men’s singles Chen Jin of China has set his goal on a gold medal at the world badminton championships.

Chen, sixth seed, routed Portugal’s Marco Vsconcelos 21-9, 21-5 in the first round on Tuesday.

Chen was on his second world championships tour and became more mature.

“Compared with last year, I have gone through some losses and turned more experienced.” said Chen, “So I’m now mentally stronger.”

Talking about the opponent in the second round Roslin Hashim M. of Malaysia, Chen said: “Roslin is very tough, I have to get well prepared.”

As China’s number three men’s singles player, Chen also aimed to crown in the worlds.

“Like the rest teammates, I’m no exception,” said Chen.

According to Olympic rules, one country or region has a maximum of three quotas in one discipline of badminton to enter the Olympic Games.

Lin Dan, world number one, and Bao Chunlai, have better chances. Chen Jin might compete against Chen Yu for a third berth.

Updated: 2007-08-15 From: Xinhuanet

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Bad news for re-paired Athens Olympic champions of women’s doubles Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen as Yang sustained knee injury right before they started their assault on the world badminton championships.

Badminton giant China was given only an hour of training last Saturday in the Putra Stadium and then they had to take training sessions in Michael’s Badminton Academy. For each team, only one hour is allowed for one session.

As one hour’s training is far from enough for Chinese shuttlers, they take physical training everyday in their hotel.

During Monday’s training session, Yang Wei sustained a right knee strain.

According to Yang’s partner Zhang, the court is hard and Yang strained her right knee, aggregating her old injury.

“She (Yang) still feels painful when walking,” said Zhang.

Third seeded, Yang/Zhang will meet Alexandra Milon/Florentina Petre of Romania in the second round.

Updated: 2007-08-13 From: China Daily

KUALA LUMPUR - After a clean sweep in all five events at the 1987 world badminton championships, China had never repeated such a feat again. In 2006, China lifted four titles, only missing the target in mixed doubles. Now, China is making the second charge in the 16th edition slated from August 13 to 19.

Flight delay of about two hours on Thursday could not delay Chinese badminton team’s solid preparation for the coming worlds.

Though China had only two weeks to prepare for the championships, head coach Li Yongbo still believed on Sunday his team was ready for the worlds, both physically and mentally.

Lin Dan, world No. 1 men’s singles shuttler and the defending world champion, looked set to reclaim the title but in a moderate way, saying that he will meet tough challenges from Taufik Hidayat and Lee Chong Wei.

23-year-old Lin has failed to win any titles in Malaysia. He lost twice in 2005 and 2006 Malaysian Open, both to Lee Chong Wei. And in 2007 Malaysian Open, he bowed to Park Sung-hwan of South Korea.

“You can not say Malaysia is not my lucky place just according to my previous performances here,” said Lin.

China tries to maintain its supremacy in women’s singles. World No. 1 and 2 Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang have well tuned for the tourney.

“Before our arrival, I was down in form but now I feel much better,” said Xie, Lin’s girl friend and defending world champion.

In her half of the draw, Xie’s threat mainly comes from teammates Zhu Lin, Lu Lan and Malaysian Wong Mew Choo.

“They have good footwork. I should be more patient,” Xie added.

Enjoying a bye in the first round as second seed, Xie will meet either Yoana Martinez of Spain or Ana Moura of Portugal in the second round.

China bet their winning hope of men’s doubles on defending champion Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, who, ended China’s 18 years’ gold drought in the event on world stage in 2006 Madrid world champs.

18 years ago, Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi clinched the first men’s doubles world champion for China.

As for women’s doubles, Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, re-paired after months’ separation due the adoption of 21 point system, which exposed Zhang’s weak point in defence. She was eventually replaced with Zhao Tingting.

However, Yang and Zhao’s performance was far from satisfactory and they lost to Indonesian duo Vita Marissa and Lilyana Natsir in China Masters in Chengdu in July. The Chinese team decided to give Zhang’s a chance at the worlds.

Yang and Zhang are not sure if they can reclimb the peak when they crowned in the Athens Olympics.

“We have only trained six times before we came here,” said Zhang.

Apart from the pair, Zhang Yangwen and Wei Yili, as well as Gao Ling and Huang Sui, top and second seeds respectively, resume more responsibility to win the gold.

Gao Ling and Zheng Bo, world No. 1 and top seeds, are regarded as a miracle since they only began to pair in 2006 Asian Games and they have won six titles.

“Our arch rival are Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson of England in top section of draw,” Zheng said.

Their challenge from bottom section might come from teammates Zhang Yawen and Xie Zhongbo, and Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto of Indonesia.

In 2006, two English pairs, Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms, Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg came out champions and runner-ups in Madrid. (Xinhua)

Updated: 2007-08-15 From: Xinhuanet

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Singapore’s top men’s singles shuttler Ronald Susilo came out firing in the second game to secure a first round win over Scotland’s Alistair Casey at the world badminton championships.

After a dog-fight in the opening game at 22-20, injury-affected Susilo picked his form and closed out the second game at 21-12.

“I’m feeling OK. Today I didn’t give it all as I wanted to learn about the stadium, wind, court etc,” said Susilo.

The eleventh seed and world number thirteen has just recovered from injuries.

“Due to injuries, I didn’t go through much training. I think things will become better,” he added.

When talking about China’s world number one Lin Dan, Susilo said: “I never played him before but I know he did a good job in the past few years. He is surely one of the champion favorites.”