The Chinese shuttlers gave no chance to their Thai counterparts,
obliterating them 5-0 on the first day of the Sudirman Cup World
Team Badminton Championships at Scotstoun International Arena
yesterday.
China, who will face Thailand, England and Malaysia in the group
stages, has sent a 17-member delegation to the week-long events.
The "Dream Team" is led by world No.1 Lin Dan for the men and Zhang
Ning for the women. Impressively, only one member of the squad,
rookie Zhu Lin, has not won a world title. However, other strong
nations such as South Korea, Indonesia and Denmark will aim to
prevent China's ascent to the title.
This might was no help for Thailand though as Zheng Bo/Gao Ling
made an example of Songphon Anugritayawon/Kunchala
Voravichitchaikul in 21-13, 21-12 to win the mixed doubles.
Formerly paired with Zhang Jun with whom?she took gold at
the Athens Olympics, Gao switched after Zhang's
star dimmed upon the implementation of the 21-point system. The new
pairing of Zheng and Gao proved to be a wise one as they cruised to
rank sixth in the world, a slew of titles behind them.
For her part, world No.2 women's singles player Xie Xingfang
crushed Soratja Chansrisukot 21-11, 21-9 while her boyfriend Lin
Dan saw off a rough challenge by Poompat Sapkulchananart 21-18,
21-14 in the third match.
The men's and women's doubles proved equally comfortable for Cai
Yun/Fu Haifeng and Yang Wei/Zhao Ting who breezed through their
matches due to a combination of strong net play and powerful
smashes.?
Despite this strong showing, China's head coach Li Yongbo
lamented that the whitewash was not an accurate reflection since
Thailand benched their best male singles player Ponsana Boonsak and
mixed doubles duo of Prapakamol Sudket and Thoungthongkam Saralee,
electing to keep them fresh ahead of the clashes with Malaysia and
England.
"It was not the line-up we expected," said Li. "They chose to
give up and this rendered us passive."
In other matches, Malaysia upset traditional powerhouse England
3-2, South Korea edged out Indonesia 3-2, and Denmark defeated Hong
Kong 3-2.
Named after Dick Sudirman, a former Indonesian badminton player
and the founder of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI),
the Sudirman Cup is a biannual tournament that began in 1989. Since
its inception, China has been crowned five times.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, June 12, 2007)
