The Thomas and Uber Cups Team Badminton Championships opened today
in Sendai, Japan. The Chinese players, who clinched both the men's
and women's team titles in Indonesia in 2004, were all set to
defend the two coveted world group trophies.
In the first round competitions, the Chinese men's team recorded
a clean sweep victory over India 5-0 and the women's team also
whitewashed US 5-0 to ease into the next phase.
After the Chinese squad trained for the last time yesterday
afternoon, the men's singles coach, Li Zhifeng, said that world
No.6, Bao Chunlai, had been fully recovered from an ankle injury
and all the players were in good form for the upcoming
matches.?
The Chinese women's single roster boasts Athens Olympic gold
medallist, Zhang Ning, world champion Xie Xingfang and National
Games title holder, Jiang Yanjiao, while the world top pair of Gao
Ling and Huang Sui and the newly crowned Asian Champions, Yu Yang
and Du Jing, lead the doubles as hot favorites for their fifth
straight and 10th overall Uber Cup.
On the men's side, World No.1 singles player Lin Dan, who won
back the Thomas Cup for China for the first time in 14 years in
2004, spearheads the team together with last year's All England
champion Chen Hong, former world champion Xia Xuanze and world
youth champion Chen Jin. The doubles include world No.3 duo Cai Yun
and Fu Haifeng and young partners Xie Zhongbo and Guo Zhendong,
ranked world No.15. They will face challenges from Denmark,
Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
Since China first competed in the Thomas and Uber Cups, the
Chinese players have collected the two trophies? four
times?-- in 1985, 1988, 1990 and 2004. With an all star
line-up on hand for the women's team, Chinese head coach, Li
Yongbo, said he believed nobody could stop the ladies from
extending their winning streak to five which would tie with the
record China made 10 years ago.?
But Li also admitted the men's team could face difficulties as
they battle for the title. "Our goal for the men is to push hard
and take the advantage rather than simply attempt to defend the cup
because a lot could happen under the new 21-point regulations."
This is the first time world group competitions are being held
under the new 21-point system after the International Badminton
Federation (IBF) reformed itself last year. Players, who used to
play well under the 15-point system, have to convert their playing
style to suit the new system. It was introduced in an attempt to
narrow the gap between the strong and the weak. Wang Lin is one of
those who benefited from the new rules as she came from nowhere to
upset Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang and Asian champion Wang Chen to win
the China Masters title last month.
Nevertheless the Chinese players still won over 60 percent of
their world championship matches in the past two years and grabbed
9 out of 10 titles in the World Cup and China Masters following the
introduction of the new 21-point system.
The Thomas Cup is the major men's international team competition
in world badminton named after Sir George Alan Thomas, a former IBF
President, who donated the Cup in 1939. The first Thomas Cup
competition was held in 1948. A female team competition, the Uber
Cup, donated by Mrs. H.S. Uber, an English badminton player,
started in 1956. The Cups are competed for every two years. This
year's matches run until May 7 and close in Tokyo.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, April 28, 2006)
