BEIJING: China's formidable badminton squad go into next week's world championships in the United States as top seeds in three of the five events, but with their sights set even higher. The Chinese headed for California yesterday to complete final preparations ahead of the August 15-21 event in Anaheim. “At the last world championships, China won three gold medals and we're hoping to better that result this time,” head coach Li Yongbo said. “The Chinese team possess the strength to win all five events in the championships, so we should end up taking more titles than anyone else.” All eyes will be on world number one Lin Dan, top seed in the men's singles, but he will be tested by a tough field that includes talented Dane Kenneth Jonassen and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, who beat Lin Dan in the semi-finals of the Singapore Open in July. The 21-year-old Lin Dan has had his ups and downs over the past year, the low point coming in his first-round exit at the Olympics. But coach Li said: “I'd say Lin Dan is becoming a more complete, mature player and his use of tactics is getting better and better.” China dominate the women's side of the championships, with world number one Zhang Ning the top seed in the singles, followed by team mate and world number two Xie Xingfang. The final of the women's doubles could well prove an all-Chinese affair, with top ranked pair Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen lined up to meet compatriots Gao Ling and Huang Sui. The Chinese coach said his greatest hope for his team was to bag the men's doubles gold, a world title China have not held since Li himself won with partner Tian Bingyi in 1987 and 1989. The burden rests on Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng. They won the All-England championship title in March but they will have to be in prime form to fight past the world number one Danish pairing of Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen. In the mixed doubles, the seedings point to a re-run of the Athens Olympics final between gold medallists Zhang Jun and Gao Ling of China and England's Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms. China have dominated international badminton over the past few years and hold all three international team cups, the Thomas, Uber and Sudirman, having swept the latter before a thrilled home crowd in Beijing in May. Sights are already set beyond California. “The world championships will serve as one of the tests for the Chinese team in the build-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics,” said Liu Fengyan, head of the Chinese delegation to Anaheim. “Our major purpose is to assess the players so that we can make more detailed preparations for the Beijing Games.” – Reuters
It's quite possible for China to have a clean sweep of the Gold medals. Of course, the events for them to worry about are MD and XD. Cai & Fu are in top form now but will still have to put on a good performance to win it all. Zhang & Gao always deliver their best in a big tournament. Their only recent "failure" at a WC/Olympics is their loss against Kim & Ra in the finals of the WC 2003. I'm sure they would like to add a second WC Gold to their collection. I wonder what would LYB's expression be if they win "only" 2 Golds through the WS and WD.
