East Asian powerhouses China and South Korea saw off Indonesia
and Malaysia respectively on Monday to set up their final clash in
the badminton men's team event at the Doha Asian Games.
Spearheaded by world No. 1 Lin Dan, the Chinese shuttlers
smashed their Indonesian peers as before in the group stage.
Although Lin trailed 12-16 in the opening set, the 23-year-old
world champion fought back with six straight points.
After winning the first set 22-20, Lin saw a surge of energy in
Taufik and quickly lost the second game 21-13.
In the deciding set, Lin, nicknamed "Super Dan" took advantage
of his rival's lack of strength and beat the Athens Olympic
champion 21-12.
"My opponent and I are both on form," said Lin after winning the
heart-stirring duel. "I won because I trained hard for the Asian
Games and I was relaxed during the fight."
Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, doubles event winner at this year's
Madrid World Championships, lost to Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan
14-21, 21-18, 16-21.
Afterwards, Asian Games rookie Chen Jin took a measure of
revenge by beating Simon Santoso 21-19, 16-21, 21-14 in the third
game. The 20-year-old Chen lost to Santoso 14-21, 8-21 on
Saturday.
Chen argued several times with the umpire on controversial line
calls and received a yellow card. "I felt that the umpire was a
little biased against me.”
In the fourth game, Xie Zhongbo and Guo Zhendong sealed the win
for China by beating Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto Chandra 6-21,
21-6, 21-16.
South Korea blew away doughty Malaysia 3-1, only suffering a
brief defeat when Athens Olympic silver medallist Park Sung Hwan
lost to Hashim Muhammad Hafiz 12- 21, 21-11, 17-21.
In the women's tourney, China clean-swept South Korea, romping
home 3-0 through the efforts of the top two singles Zhang Ning, Xie
Xingfang and world No.1 doubles pair Gao Ling and Huang Sui.
Athens Olympic champion Zhang Ning concealed his age well
against 21-year-old Lee Yun Hwa, 10 years his junior, seeing the
young gun off 21-14 and 21-7 in 19 minutes flat.
Li Yongbo, the Chinese badminton team's head coach, thought the
unbeatable Chinese women's lineup had not yet face a challenge at
the Asian Games.
"The South Korean shuttlers looked tired today as they had to
play two matches yesterday to take the last semifinal berth.
Besides, they might have thought that it was impossible to defeat
their Chinese peers, so they weren't aggressive at all."
In Monday's first semifinal, Japan, unexpectedly edging out
South Korea in the group stage, finished off Singapore 3-0.
The clash between Japan and China is going to be held on
Tuesday." Japan is stronger than South Korea," said Li Yongbo.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2006)