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BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES
China's domination under threat
7 August 2008
By Raphael Sachetat. Pix by BadmintonPhoto
A FEW months ago it was a foregone conclusion that China will win the women’s singles gold medal. But not anymore.
Things have changed and even the local press are installing Xie Xingfang’s new arch rival Tine Rasmussen as the favourite, for a duel which resembles the Camilla Martin vs Gong Zhichao rivalry some years ago. Both have been in the shadow of their team-mates few years ago. Four years ago, Xie Xingfang had to stay on the bench and see Gong Ruina, Zhou Mi and Zhang Ning depart for Athens, and Tine’s role model was Camilla. They are now both in the limelight and are probably the heavy favourites for the women’s singles gold in the Olympic Games.  Tine has had a good practice session in Hong Kong and has arrived in Beijing while Xie, together with her team-mates, was in a strict training camp with a 9 PM curfew until they all joined the Olympic Village on Monday.
The top seed from China, who enjoyed some shopping time with her boyfriend, Lin Dan, in the Olympic Village – to the delight of the local press, will however be careful as even if she avoided Tine in her half of the draw, she will have a very tough first round in the name of Cheng Shao Chieh from Chinese Taipei, who has beaten her previously, and whose game – mostly attacking and aggressive – can trouble the lanky Chinese. Xie, despite her top billing, hasn’t had the greatest of years in 2008 with a shaky start after her injury in the Malaysia Open. Beaten early in the Yonex All England, she was back at her peak in the Swiss Open, which together with the Aviva Singapore Open, will remain one of the only two titles she won this year – much less than the previous year where she had dominated the circuit. Xie will also have to deal with the home pressure, probably even greater than the Olympics itself. She’ll have to perform from the start as she will probably meet Germany’s Xu Huaiwen in the quarter-finals for another big test for her. The latter has been faring really well lately, and has vowed to enjoy herself before anything, taking the pressure off her back in doing so. “It can’t be worse than in Athens where I lost in the first round, so I’ll definitely try my best and enjoy myself. It will be fun to play in China,” said the 32 year old Xu, who is a real threat to Xie. Tine, on her side, is seeded 6th - in spite of the 4th world ranking she reached after the seeding position – and lies in the lower part of the draw, in the same quarter as Wang Chen, the Hong Kong player, known for her natural talent.  Tine, who had hidden her targets to the outside world to avoid any pressure, will have Akvile Stapusaityte for a first round opponent and could be taking on India’s Saina Nehwal in the next round, should the Indian make it past Russia’s Ella Dielh. If Tine and Wang meet, it will be an interesting match as the Hong Kong player has the edge in terms of victories (5/2) but Tine is clearly not the same shuttler compared to last time they met. Whoever wins this confrontation would take on either Pi Hongyan or Zhang Ning of China.
Zhang Ning, the defending champion, was preferred to reigning world champion Zhu Lin as China’s third qualified shuttler. Her incredible touch, very strong experience and mental strength could make the difference. In her quarter ( if she beats Jun Jae Youn of Korea, whose current form is unknown after her injury), lies France’s Pi Hongyan, who will be playing her second and probably last Olympics with a special flavour to it : not only because she hopes to fare better than last time when she had lost in the first round, but also because she will be playing in front of her former compatriots as Pi was born in Sichuan Province. The tiny French woman, after an efficient training camp in Saarbrucken, with other Europeans, and then in Hong Kong to adjust to the jet lag and the heat conditions, was overwhelmed by questions from French medias when she arrived in Beijing and vowed to beat the top Chinese, starting with Zhang in the quarters should she avoid the tricky second round against Japan’s Eriko Hirose. “If I beat the Chinese, it won’t be a revenge in any way, because I have beaten them in the past, but I just want to play my best and hope for a medal,” she said. The other player who might be a threat to the mighty Chinese is Wong Mew Choo. The tiny Malaysian has kept a low profile in her country with Lee Chong Wei and the men’s doubles widely regarded as medal hopes. As an underdog, she is seeded 8th with a potential quarter-final against the in form Lu Lan. She might have to beat Petya Nedelcheva first but if she does reach the quarter-final stage, she could find some shaky Chinese on her way, as what had happened in the China Open last year, when she defeated one Chinese after the other to clinch the title in Guangzhou. China’s women are still favourites to win the gold but with the likes of Tine, Pi, Xu and Mew Choo waiting to capitalise on the slightest error, it could still be one of the most open contests in the women’s singles.
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6 August 2008 - - MORE than any other, the men’s doubles draw has given some impressive first round matches, with ‘potential finals’ to be played on Day One. Local stars, once again, were not the luckiest of all. But with only 16 pairs in the draw, things couldn’t possibly be easy for everyone. |
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BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES
Fiery contest on the cards
6 August 2008
By Raphael Sachetat. Pix by BadmintonPhoto
There will be no time for players to warm up. Most of the doubles pairs will have to sweat from scratch. Top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan enter the competition as reigning world champions, but they will have a very tough first round, against China’s second pair of Xie Zhongbo and Guo Zhendong. The Indonesian duo, after a tremendous finish in 2007, and the Malaysia Open title this year have failed to bag any title, while, on their end, China’s Guo and Xie have proven their worth when they won the crucial point which gave China the Thomas Cup. Also, with their recent win in India and runners-up finish in Thailand, the Chinese will be confident to create the first upset of the event. If Guo and Xie have nothing to lose and everything to gain, the same cannot be said of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, who are China’s main hopes to make it a clean sweep on home land. And their first round is just as difficult, facing Europe’s most capped and experienced pair of Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Jens Eriksen. The giant veterans are out to shine in Beijing, for one of their last competition as a pair as they have announced their retirement soon after the Games, at the age of 38 and 34 years old respectively. The two pairs are on level terms, at least on head to head records, with a 5/5 record in individual events. The Danes enjoyed their last win over the Chinese at the 2007 Denmark Open. But the battle will be fierce with pressure on both sides. “I wish we had met them in a later stage, as we are usually slow starters, but we’ll give our very best,” said Hansen.  If the Chinese get past the Danes, they should have a slightly easier round as they will meet the winner of the match between United States’ Howard Bach-Bob Malaythong against South Africa’s Dednam siblings. On paper, Cai and Fu should be meeting Malaysia’s Lee Wan Wah-Choong Tan Fook in the semi-final as the Malaysians are seeded 4th. They will however have to overcome the youth and talented pair of Lee Jae Jin and Hwang Ji Man from Korea.
Malaysia’s rising stars Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong are in a much different position entering the Olympics as they were a few months ago. After their incredible year in 2007, all Malaysians were hoping that this duo could actually grab the nation’s first ever Olympics gold medal. But their latest performances have quieted down the cheers and expectations, which might be a blessing after all, as the duo performed better when they are the underdogs. Moreover, the injury sustained by Koo Kien Keat lately (he suffered cuts to his hand and leg after a glass panel broke while he was leaning against it at practice), depriving the young Malaysians from competition and practice. In their first round, they’ll have at heart to avenge their two straight losses to Japan’s Shuichi Sakamoto and Shintaro Ikeda, who had stunned them in the World Championships and once again in the Yonex All England this year. But the shuttlers from BAM are focused and hope to beat their nemesis. “We were suffering from poor form when we lost to Sakamoto-Ikeda. The Japanese won then not because they were better but because we were slow and hasty,” told Tan to the New Straits Times of Malaysia.  “However, the Olympics is a different ball game altogether, as all pairs will be 100 per cent focused and determined,” he added. If they do beat the Japanese, Koo and Tan get another spicy round as they would take on either the world champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan – to whom they have never lost to – or China’s Xie and Guo.
The title holders Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon will not be watching the Olympics from the same angle. Kim could be watching it on TV, while Ha Tae Kwon will be sitting on the bench to advise his juniors, hoping that Korea’s two pairs will pull the amazing trick of qualifying for the final, as their countrymen had done four years ago. They did just that in the 2008 Yonex All England Championships when former partners Lee Jae Jin and Jung Jae Sung faced each other in the final, yet a tough match awaits Korea’s best duo. Lee Yong Dae – who happens to be the youngest male player in badminton in Beijing - and Jung Jae Sung will play Denmark’s Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen, who had ups and downs in their career – they are back after a slump in form following their world title in 2003. This specific match, arguably, is the highlight of the first round, with quite an unpredictable outcome. Both pairs have won two matches a piece against each other in individual tournaments, but the Danes got the psychological edge as they beat the Koreans in the Thomas Cup finals in Jakarta last May. Korea’s other pair will take on Lee and Choong of Malaysia for another tricky match. The Olympics gold medal is only 4 matches away for all these pairs and with 5 or 6 pairs having an equal chance to win the title, it all promises to be a fiery affair at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium.
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5 August 2008 - - LIN Dan and Lee Chong Wei have dominated the men’s singles in 2008. In fact, either one is heavily tipped to win the gold in Beijing. |
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BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES
Can Lin Dan live up to his billing?
5 August 2008
By Raphael Sachetat. Pix by BadmintonPhoto
But so too can at least half a dozen other players who are capable of rising to the occasion to trouble the top two seeds. Four years ago, Lin Dan had entered the Olympic Games as the firm favourite. Instead, the latter was sent packing by Singapore’s Ronald Susilo in the first round. While Lin Dan will be more wary this time around, the World No 1 knows anything can happen in such an important tournament. And the Chinese has quite a tough draw, with Hong Kong’s Ng Wei as a first hurdle – the first match will not be an easy one to play for Lin, who is a slow starter and definitively will have to cope with the added expectations of an entire nation who expect him to just show up to win the title. First matches are always tricky for him, sometimes losing games to much lower ranked opponents, and Ng Wei will have nothing to lose. The latter will have at heart to avenge the non-qualification of his girlfriend Zhu Lin from the Chinese squad.  The third round could be even more difficult for Lin Dan, as the Chinese might face Korea’s Park Sung Hwan, the player whom he has the worst record against even if Lin Dan leveled up to 3/3 in their head to head statistics in the recent Thomas Cup final.
This third round match – Lin has a bye in the first round – will be one of the highlights of the day on Tuesday, 12 August, a repeat of the Thomas Cup final in Jakarta in May which was badminton at the highest standard. Should Lin Dan progress past the Korean, Peter Gade, the long time Europe's best shuttler, is drawn to meet the Chinese in the upper quarter-final. Gade will take on Nabil Lasmari, who has represented France few years ago before enjoying his double nationality and seeking an opportunity to play for Algeria. If the Dane goes through, it will be a tougher second round, expected against either Shoji Sato (Japan) or Anup Shridhar (India). Sato had beaten Gade in the Thomas Cup group match, 22/20 in the decider, while Anup is known as the giant killer ever since he beat Taufik in the 2007 World Championships. Gade is aware of the tricky path to the quarter-finals : “Of course I hope to go clear of Lin Dan in the quarter-finals, but this is such a tough tournament and there are strong players everywhere. My way to a possible quarter-final is to get past good players but it could have been worse and I believe in my chances,” said Gade. “It's very important to take this tournament match by match and from now on my focus will be on my first match. In the past, a lot of unexpected things happened - it could be the same here.” As for his potential quarter-final against the favourite, the Dane is looking forward to it : “Lin Dan is the favourite but has a lot of pressure at home,” hinted the Dane, who beat Lin Dan in China, two years ago.  Another Dane will be heading to Beijing with an even tougher draw : Kenneth Jonassen, in the other half, has been unlucky to get the worse first round against a shuttler which clearly would deserve a seeded spot, Korea’s Lee Hyun Il.
Ronald Susilo had drawn Lin Dan in the first round of the 2004 Olympics. He stunned the world No 1 at the time. This year, he will play another of the favourites : Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who has been faring really well in the past few months. “Well this time around is no different than the last Olympic... though I am facing one of the favourite I will still fight to my very best... anything can happen in the game,” said Susilo. Chong Wei will be wary of Susilo as the latter is the kind of player who can make his opponent wonder, especially in a time of high pressure. Both players are from the same generation but the 26 year old Malaysian has certainly started to feel a pressure he’ll have to deal with if he wants to succeed. Malaysia has never won a gold medal in the Olympics in 52 years of participation but with Chong Wei’s recent performances – beating Lin Dan three times in 2 years, have given his countrymen great hope. So, right now, on top of focusing on regular training, Chong Wei is undergoing mental training, going to class three times a week. “You must think you can win” said Chong Wei to Reuters.  If Lee goes through this tricky second round – both shuttlers have a bye – the Malaysian is likely to face another old friend in the name of Sony Dwi Kuncoro in an expected quarter-final – the latter has a tough draw with Boonsak Ponsana as the first opponent.
Bao Chunlai should be Chong Wei’s opponent in the semi-final if everything goes according to script. The tall Chinese has an easy first couple of rounds with a bye then Kevin Cordon in the second round before a third round against the dangerous Wacha Prezmyslaw. It’s only in the quarters that Bao could face his first big test in the name of Kenneth Jonassen or Lee Hyun Il. The title holder Taufik Hidayat seem to be cursed as after having to withdraw from his home Indonesia Open he now has been apparently hit by Dengue fever – as reported by Malaysia’s Star newspaper a couple of days ago. The Indonesian, who opens his title defense against Malaysia’s Wong Choong Hann, might not have as much pressure on his shoulders, with a title under his belt already. But then, with Taufik, one can never tell. The Badminton programme begins on Saturday, 9 August 2008.
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BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES
Juliane-Maria to open badminton programme
2 August 2008
To be played at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, the other two matches on Court 2 and 3, with a 10-minute staggered start, are the women’s singles match between Australia’s Erin Carroll and Spain’s Yoana Martinez, and the men’s singles match between Ireland’s Scott Evans and Germany’s Marc Zwiebler. The Olympic Games runs from 8-24 August. However, badminton concludes its programme on Aug 17. But some of the biggest names in the sport only swing into action on Day Two with an explosive women’s doubles match between top seeds Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen from China and Indonesia’s Liliyana Natsir-Vita Marissa on the cards.  Defending champion Zhang Ning will also get her campaign going with a morning match against Thailand’s Salakjit Ponsana. Zhang Ning’s compatriot and favourite for the title, Xie Xingfang, also swings into action against the dangerous Cheng Shao Chieh from Chinese Taipei.
The action continues in the women’s doubles in the evening with Great Britain’s Gail Emms-Donna Kellogg up against China’s Zhang Yawen-Wei Yili.  In the men’s singles, the action starts on Day Three and the draw has thrown up several interesting match-ups.
Singapore’s Ronald Susilo, always a dangerous opponent, begins his campaign against Malaysia’s World No 2, Lee Chong Wei while Europe’s hopes of winning the singles title will rest largely on the broad shoulders of Denmark's Kenneth Jonassen and Peter Gade. Jonassen takes on South Korea’s Lee Hyun Il, a player who, after a lengthy spell out of the game, seems to have regained his form and hunger for titles while Gade has an easier opener in the form of Algeria’s Nabil Lasmari. China’s World No 1 and two-time world champion Lin Dan also begins his quest for an Olympic title with a match against Hong Kong’s Ng Wei in the evening session, and the biggest question will be whether the latter can defy the form book and create what will surely be the biggest upset of the competition. Badminton’s first medal will be offered on Friday, 15 August in the women’s doubles. On Saturday, the women’s singles and men’s doubles medals will be decided while the men’s singles and mixed doubles medallists will be decided on Sunday, the final day of competition. For further details of the draw and detail times of the matches, log on to www.internationalbadminton.org and click on Badminton Schedule in the Olympic Games section.
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27 July 2008 - - IN a historic first, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) successfully conducted the manual draw for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing at the Henan Plaza Hotel in Beijing on Saturday. |
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BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES DRAW
First Round Battles For Medal Hopefuls
27 July 2008
Witnessed by VIPs from the embassies of Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom, the draw was also attended by representatives of several competing National Olympic Committees, team coaches and officials from the Beijing Olympic Games Organising Committee (BOGOC) together with BWF Members Associations. Also witness to the draw was BWF President Dr Kang Young Joong and Chair of the Draw Panel.  The biggest results of the draw came in the men’s doubles where China’s second seeds and former world champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng were drawn against the Danish veterans of Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen while China’s second pair of Gua Zhendong-Xie Zhongbo were drawn against top seeds and reigning world champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.
The interesting match-ups did not stop there and it continued in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles with the top pairs from China featuring prominently in all these draws. In the women’s doubles, China’s top seeds for the Games, Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen have to get past the Indonesian threat of Liliyana Natsir-Vita Marissa, who in recent tournaments, have shocked some of the top pairs in the world. And in the mixed doubles, China’s best have to overcome potentially hazardous encounters against Great Britain’s Nathan Robertson-Gail Emms and Anthony Clark-Donna Kellogg in the first round. China’s second seeds, Zheng Bo-Gao Ling face Robertson-Emms, who were the 2006 World Champions while Clark-Kellogg square off against He Hanbin-Yu Yang. A draw panel approved and conducted the manual draw process ensuring compliance with BWF Regulations and Olympic Games qualifying regulations for Beijing 2008. The panel was headed by Kang while the other members of the panel were Dennis Li, Beijing 2008 Referee, Paisan Rangsikitpho, Beijing 2008 BWF Technical Delegate and Torsten Berg, Deputy Chair BWF Sport Committee, Chair Technical Commission. The Draw Panel’s specific role was to ensure the draw was conducted according to the BWF Regulations, oversee all the technical aspects of running the Draw Ceremony, approve the equipment used for the manual draw, approve the steps in the draw process and oversee the draw itself on the day. VIPs and special guests were asked on stage for various draw sequences, and they were the ones who physically drew the names and places for the draw. The draw was conducted for all five disciplines – the men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. For further details, log on to www.internationalbadminton.org on the section on Draws/Results to view the draw.
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REFEREES' WORKSHOP
Scotland step in
16 July 2008
The original intention was to stage the Workshop during the Denmark or French Open events. However, the last two Super Series tournaments of the year in Europe now coincide with the World Junior Championships in India and would deny a number of referees the opportunity to attend. As a result BWF have agreed to switch the Workshop to Glasgow during the Bank of Scotland Scottish International Championships. The Workshop will now be held in over two days on November 21-22 (9am-6pm daily). The Workshop is open to all European, African and Pam Am Accredited Referees, who are automatically invited, just as the Singapore Workshop was for referees in Asia and Oceania. They keynote speakers will be two of the BWF’s top referees Torsten Berg (Denmark) and Isabelle Jobard (France) but a full programme of topics and speakers will be announced nearer the time.  Anne Smillie, Chair of the BWF Sports Committee, said today: "It is a pity that our original plan to hold the European workshop during the Denmark or French Opens is not possible. But Scotland are honoured to have been invited to step in and organise the European and Pan Am Workshop. I know how successful the Singapore Workshop was and I look forward to the European leg being just as beneficial to the BWF's technical officials."
To date there are only 7 BWF Certificated and 24 Accredited Referees on the BWF list but the aim is to increase that significantly by the 2012 Olympics. Anne explained: “Our only Accredited Referee in Australia is Jane Wheatley and we only have two in Africa. On top of that Oceania and Africa don’t have any Certificated Referees and this is something we want to change. For that reason I would like to see similar workshops worldwide and, of course, we are organising training courses for Umpires in Africa, Pan Am and Oceania.” "We want to expand the number of Technical Officials so that there is a strong global representation of court officials at major events. But it is my aim to see an increase in African representation in particular among umpires by London 2012."
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