No.2 seeds Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng from China advanced into the final of men's doubles at Beijing Olympic badminton tournament, beating Lee Jae-jin and Hwang Ji-man from South Korea 22-20, 21-8 Friday.
The world No.2 pair showed their enormous confidence in themselves, kept smashing against the opponents without any hesitation in spite of unfavorable service calls from the umpire from Britain.
Since badminton entered the Olympic Games in 1992, it is the first time for a Chinese men's doubles pair to reach the final at Olympics.
In the final of men's doubles, the Chinese pair will challenge the top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia, who downed Danish veterans Lars Passke and Jonas Rasmussen 21-19, 21-17 earlier today.
"Every time when we play against South Korean pairs, it will be a hard fight," said Fu, the fastest shuttler in the world. "We've been fully prepared for the match."
On the key point of their victory, Cai attributed it to their services of high quality, although they have been called fault serving four times in the match.
"We've focused on the training of services before the match," said stylish Cai with a tatoo on his back namely "face of adversity", noting that they've never been called like today in previous international competitions.
"Our coach told us not to be affected by the calls after the first game," Fu told reporters.
On the opponents in the final, Fu said that the chances are 50 to 50, and "they've been prepared for hard fight".
The defeated pair from South Korea, however, refused to answer any questions at the mixed zone, even the request of interview from their domestic media, including the SBS TV.
(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)