The IBF 2006 Badminton World Championship closed yesterday night in
Madrid, Spain as the Chinese shuttlers grabbed four out of five
golds on offer.
The only gold they dropped is the mixed doubles title which was
clinched by Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms of Britain, the sport's
birthplace.
The Chinese duo of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng made an example of the
British pairing of Anthony Clark and Robert Blair 21-9, 21-13 in
straight sets to win the men's doubles final, the last title up for
grabs. They maintained a run of good form, closing out their
counterparts, ending a 17-year-old gold drought in the event for
China since Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi won the title in 1989.
Early last night, the wondrous men's singles final witnessed a
57-min seesaw clash between Lin Dan of China and his teammate Bao
Chunlai. World No.1 Lin rallied from one game down to outplay Bao
18-21, 21-17 and 21-12, winning his first world championship title.
The game is also the first all-China gold match in nine years.
Bao opened the match with a 3-1 lead. But Lin, who found his
rhythm more slowly than his rival, used several flatter drives to
tie the game at 5-5. After a balanced spell saw them teeter at
18-18, Bao erupted with several net strokes and powerful smashes to
win 21-18.
The second game also twisted to a tie of 17-17, but this time it
was Lin Dan who fastened his pace in the breath-taking rally making
four consecutive drives to win 21-17.
Lin showed his confidence and strong will to win in the last
game, making it 11-5 to the Time Out and extending his dominance
despite several drop shots by Bao Chunlai.
"Losing to Taufik (Hidayat of Indonesia) in the final last time
fully motivated me to win this match. Although I have won the World
Cup title, the World Championship is more important," said Lin, who
outsmashed Bao 34-19.
"I made a mistake when it was at 16-16 in the second game and it
was the turning point of the match," commented Bao, adding, "But
anyway I'm content with the silver medal."
Xie Xingfang, the reigning women's singles world champion and
Lin Dan's girlfriend, also drank from the sweet keg of victory as
she beat top-seeded compatriot Zhang Ning in the final 21-16,
21-14. Chinese World Championship debutant Jiang Yanjiao made it to
the quarterfinals.
?
In women's doubles, China clinched all the four seats of the semis
and veteran pair of Gao Ling and Huang Sui pocketed their third
gold medal at the event in a row, crushing teammates Zhang Wei and
Zhang Wenjie 23-21, 21-9.
China booked seven out of ten final berths in the five
disciplines and took 4 golds, 3 silvers and 3 browns in total, a
big leap than their achievements last time with 2 golds, 4 silvers
and 1 browns.
The rest three spots were seized by the English players, who
finally won the mixed doubles title as Nathan Robertson and Gail
Emms beat their training partners Clark and Donna Kellogg 21-15,
21-12 in an all-English final, ending Britain's spell out in the
cold since claiming the mixed doubles title in 1983.
The?Champions:
Lin Dan?(Men's
Singles)
Xie Xingfang (R)
(Women's Singles)
Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng
(Men's Doubles)
Gao Ling and Huang Sui
(Women's Doubles)
Nathan Robertson and
Gail Emms?(Mixed Doubles)
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, September 25, 2006)
