Chinese shuttlers reached their goal of grabbing at least three gold medals at the Doha Asian Games, but have to be on the alert for threats from other teams.

 

The Chinese team took both the men's and women's team titles, which were considered as the most important by head coach Li Yongbo.

 

But just as Li said, the 3-2 narrow win over South Korea in the men's final showed that China was not far ahead of the rest of Asia.

 

Although world champion Lin Dan beat Indonesian Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat twice in the team event, he was not unbeatable as the world No. 1 lost to Lee Hyun Il in the team final.

 

After the loss to Lee, Lin said that he was so eager to win that he failed to handle every shot patiently.

 

Although Lin took a revenge later by finishing off Lee outright in the men's singles semifinals. The 23-year-old failed to keep a cool head again in the final where he surrendered to a composed defending champion Taufik in straight sets.

 

Since top men's singles players such as Lin, Taufik and Lee are almost on the same level, the one with stronger mentality usually has a better chance.

 

Although China received surprise presents in the mixed doubles as newly-combined Zheng Bo and Gao Ling notched up the gold by defeating Indonesian world No. 1 Nova Widianto/Liliyana and their teammates Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen, the badminton giant suffered a lot in the men's doubles.

 

Malaysian pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong ousted world No. 1 Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng in the quarter-finals before they scooped the gold.

 

Despite having teamed up for one month, Koo, 21, and Tan, 19, are as threatful as the bronze medalists Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia and Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae from South Korea.

 

Chinese head coach Li had once said the he needn't worry about the Chinese women's team at all. But he turned out to be wrong.

 

The Chinese women did pull off the team gold without losing a game. But that was the end of good news.

 

With world top two Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang in the squad though, China didn't have a representative in the women's singles final, where Hong Kong veteran Wang Chen met her teenage teammate Yip Pui Yin.

 

Although China made a one-two finish in the women's doubles through world No. 1 Gao Ling/Huang Sui and No. 2 Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen, the two pairs could always feel the threat from their Japanese, Indonesian and South Korean peers in the competition.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2006)

China Takes Four Golds with Threats Looming?

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Chinese shuttlers reached their goal of grabbing at least three gold medals at the Doha Asian Games, but have to be on the alert for threats from other teams.

 

The Chinese team took both the men's and women's team titles, which were considered as the most important by head coach Li Yongbo.

 

But just as Li said, the 3-2 narrow win over South Korea in the men's final showed that China was not far ahead of the rest of Asia.

 

Although world champion Lin Dan beat Indonesian Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat twice in the team event, he was not unbeatable as the world No. 1 lost to Lee Hyun Il in the team final.

 

After the loss to Lee, Lin said that he was so eager to win that he failed to handle every shot patiently.

 

Although Lin took a revenge later by finishing off Lee outright in the men's singles semifinals. The 23-year-old failed to keep a cool head again in the final where he surrendered to a composed defending champion Taufik in straight sets.

 

Since top men's singles players such as Lin, Taufik and Lee are almost on the same level, the one with stronger mentality usually has a better chance.

 

Although China received surprise presents in the mixed doubles as newly-combined Zheng Bo and Gao Ling notched up the gold by defeating Indonesian world No. 1 Nova Widianto/Liliyana and their teammates Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen, the badminton giant suffered a lot in the men's doubles.

 

Malaysian pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong ousted world No. 1 Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng in the quarter-finals before they scooped the gold.

 

Despite having teamed up for one month, Koo, 21, and Tan, 19, are as threatful as the bronze medalists Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia and Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae from South Korea.

 

Chinese head coach Li had once said the he needn't worry about the Chinese women's team at all. But he turned out to be wrong.

 

The Chinese women did pull off the team gold without losing a game. But that was the end of good news.

 

With world top two Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang in the squad though, China didn't have a representative in the women's singles final, where Hong Kong veteran Wang Chen met her teenage teammate Yip Pui Yin.

 

Although China made a one-two finish in the women's doubles through world No. 1 Gao Ling/Huang Sui and No. 2 Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen, the two pairs could always feel the threat from their Japanese, Indonesian and South Korean peers in the competition.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2006)