Taufik Hidayat claims Indian Open badminton title

Second-seeded Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia defeated Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia 21-18, 21-19 on Sunday to clinch the India Open men's singles title, while top-seeded Pi Hongyan of France took the women's event.

Taufik, winner of all previous six meetings with Hashim, exuded confidence in his strokes and succeeded in inducing errors from his Malaysian opponent.

"The score was close; winning a title is always very satisfying," Taufik said.

"This win will give me a lot of confidence for the world championships at this venue in August. There's a bit of drift inside the stadium here, so it takes time to get used to the shuttle in the high tosses. I think, I read the drift much better than him."

Pi, ranked fourth in the world, rallied to beat fifth-seeded Julia Wang Pei Xian of Malaysia 17-21, 21-15, 21-14 in the women's final.

Pi, whose last title came at the 2006 Singapore Open, is six years older than Wang and used her experience to slow the rallies with high tosses to the back court after having lost the opening game.

"Wang's a very tough opponent. She beat me two years ago, but here I felt I was in control," Pi said.

"It was tough to come back after losing the first game. I then decided to slow down the game, thinking it would suit me better."

In the men's doubles final, the experienced Malaysian duo of Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah defeated the new Singapore combination of Hendri Kurniawan Saputra and Hendra Wijaya 21-9, 21-11.

Ma Jin and Wang Xiao Li of China downed Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati of Indonesia 21-14, 21-13 for the women's doubles title.

Marissa also teamed up with Flandy Limpele to beat V. Diju and Jwala Gutta of India in the mixed doubles final.

Players upset with service judge in All England badminton

BIRMINGHAM, England, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Some players are upset with allegedly unfair service judgments in the All England Badminton Open and the Chinese team are filing a complaint Saturday.

Chinese mixed pair Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen have accused the English service judge Chris Taylor of unfairly giving them "about eight service faults" on Wednesday, which they claimed eventually led to their 16-21, 21-18, 21-17 loss to Indonesia's Flandy Limpele and Russia's Anastasia Russkikh in the first round.

But Russkikh denied that the referee favored them and said that it was not something "special".

"The referee also ruled against us... a couple of times. So I don't think he's helping us," she said.

A source close to the Chinese team said that Taylor inflicted five faults on the Chinese pair versus one on Limpele and Russkikh during their three-game encounter.

In badminton, a service fault means a point automatically being awarded to opponents.

Russkikh, however, also blamed another service judge in their match against English Robert Blair and Scottish Imogen Bankier on Thursday although they won 26-24, 21-19.

"He faulted our serves four to five times," she said, "that didn't bother me. He had a problem with me before. But it's his problem, not mine. I served well."

It was also claimed that some other Chinese players were treated in a similar way in two other matches in the week-long tournament which will end on Sunday and the Chinese team are filing a complaint.

"We were faulted all in crucial times," Zhang Yawen said of the damage of the judgment, "like when we were level or rallying. That of course affected the result of the game in an unfair way."

"It's not the first time. We experienced the same thing in the 2006 world championships in Spain," Zhang said.

In Spain, Zhang and her partner Xie were reportedly faulted on services for a surprising eleven times in a second-round match which they survived 23-21, 22-20.

Service judgment has been a very controversial topic in badminton sport.

The service rule is that the position of the shuttle at the moment it is struck must be below the level of the lowest rib. But the rib is not seen and the position is actually left up to the judge to determine.

Lin Dan leads China to All England badminton sweep

BIRMINGHAM, England, March 9 -- Olympic champion Lin Dan led the Chinese badminton team to sweep all the five titles in All England Badminton Open on Sunday.

In a replay of the Beijing Olympic final, Lin upset current world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-19, 21-12 for his fourth men's singles victory in Birmingham.

Wang Yihan, 21, stunned Danish top-seeded Tine Rasmussen 21-19,21-23, 21-11 to win her first major title in her second All England.

China also captured all the three doubles golds to become the first nation since Denmark in 1948 to win all five events at this prestigious tournament.

While they had a clean sweep in the 1987 world championships in Beijing, it is the first time for them to collect all titles overseas.

Chinese head coach Li Yongbo believed that glory came out of harder work.

"Definitely Chinese are the best in the tournament. I don't know if in every event, but they are the best this time.

"We have the best players and best coaches and they work closely together. And most of all, they train really hard. I can say no one else could work harder. That's exactly the reason why we are successful."

Chinese had booked women's doubles gold and silver before Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting beat Cheng Sui and Zhao Yunlei 21-13, 21-15 in an all-Chinese final, and third seeds He Hanbin and Yu Yang added mixed doubles title, fighting back from a game down to beat South Korean duo Sung Hyun and Ha Jung Eun 13-21, 21-15, 21-9.

Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng held their nerves and completed the sweep with a 21-17, 21-15 victory over Han Sang Hoon and Hwang Ji Man of South Korea.

The final between Lin and Lee, the top two players in the world, turned out to be another lop-sided one after Beijing where the Chinese sensation thumped Lee 21-12, 21-8.

Although the first game had twists and saw Lin come back superbly from 19-17 down to take the next four points, he reeled off seven points in a row from 14-12 to 21-12 to register his ninth victory over the Malaysian in their last 10 meetings.

"Even the first game, I felt it's under control although I didn' t handle the situation well at some points and became impatient. But I soon reconcentrated and won back," said Lin.

"I think today I played well and I was totally composed," he added.

Lee, apparently upset with another heavy loss to his arch-rival, admitted that Lin enjoyed the psychological advantage over him.

"Yes, I think so. But I'm ok. I hope I can try again and I'll never give up," said Lee, playing in his first All England final.

"Today we still had a good match. I had chance when leading 19-17 in the first game but I squandered a few points by easy mistakes. I don't know. I lost focus. If I could have snatched the first game, it could be a different result."

Lee also promised to try different ways to beat Lin.

"I think Lin played even a lot better than in the Olympics. He improved his speed and attacking. He's a good attacker and has good speed. Maybe I have to break his rhythm next time."

Coach Li Yongbo also responded to China's controversial absence from international events for months this year.

"Each team has its own arrangement and we did that upon players' need. They need rest. Can't you say it's a bad decision today?

"We don't think that much. It's nothing weird. But I hope other teams won't follow our example. They won't have the same result," Li said with a smile. (Xinhua)

Badminton-China goes it alone to retain dominance

BEIJING, (Reuters) - China believes it has found the solution to the dwindling number of youngsters playing badminton but its proposed professional league looks certain to put it on a collision course with world governing body, the BWF.

As the country's top players do battle at this week's All England championships in Birmingham, the Chinese Badminton Association (CBA) says there are now just a thousand registered players in China and the relaunch of a national league is essential to boost those numbers.

"The league is a must, as it is the only way to commercialise and promote badminton," CBA spokeswoman Wang Yuyan told Reuters.

Inevitably, however, the proposed league would result in Chinese players shunning international events to play at home.

"You cannot burn the candle at both ends, we will have to give up some international tournaments," China's head coach Li Yongbo told state media.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF), who got an inkling of what to expect when China withdrew all its leading players from last season's first Super Series finals, said on Wednesday it wanted to talk to the CBA about the league.

"The BWF is concerned with the development but welcomes open discussion on the issue for the mutual benefit of all parties," BWF chair of events Paisan Rangsikitpho told Reuters by e-mail.

MEDAL WINNERS

China has dominated badminton since the country returned to the international sporting arena in the 1970s. Chinese players won 11 of 20 medals at the 2007 world championships and eight of 15 at last year's Beijing Olympics.

In an increasingly affluent China, however, parents restricted by law to one child no longer see sport as an attractive way for their sole offspring to get on in life.

The CBA's solution is the six to eight team league, which it says has already attracted 20 million yuan ($2.92 million) in sponsorship ahead of a projected start by the end of the year.

"This will make more and more Chinese parents let their children play badminton since they can see hope through the league," said Liu Fengyan, director of the Badminton and Table Tennis Administration.

The CBA admits clashes with the international calendar are inevitable but says they will be kept to as few as possible.

"The league is carefully working on the schedule to co-ordinate with the international tournaments as much as possible," said Wang.

"The national team's performance on the international stage must not be affected, as well as the status China has held in the badminton world," she added.

PLANNING STAGE

The league, announced with a flurry of publicity last month, is still at the planning stage, however, and the CBA is well aware that China's previous professional competition collapsed seven years ago when it ran out of money.

Liu said the league would initially be experimental, while the influential Li has suggested it would be safer to start with a smaller league and develop it step by step.

"If we run a league at a cost to the national team's interests, I'd prefer no league," said Liu.

Despite China's huge success in international badminton, the CBA are in no doubt that the country will face a crisis in the mid to long term if the present decline is not arrested.

"Chinese badminton faces a challenge," Liu said. "Many provinces have shelved their badminton teams ... at the same time there have been no new teams formed for 30 years."

The nationwide network of grassroot amateur sports schools, the base of the Chinese sports pyramid which has been producing talented youngsters for provincial and ultimately the national team for years, is also struggling to attract students.

While China's world-beating badminton squad, which boasts world and Olympic champion Lin "Super" Dan, attracts a huge amount of support, few youngsters, it seems, are playing badminton for more than fun.

Another benefit of the league, Liu believes, would be to offer financial rewards to the many top quality badminton players who fail to make it into the national team -- several of whom have defected to other countries in recent years.

"A badminton player has very little chance to succeed unless he can make it into the national team," Liu said.

"Who is going to do this if they are unable to make a living after decades of intensive training?"

The shortage of young talent has already had the sometimes acerbic Li complaining about the poor quality of new recruits to the national team.

"They have no distinguishing techniques, no will to fight and not even the vitality of youth," he said.

Badminton: Tine aims to defend badminton's All-England title

BIRIMINGHAM, England: Tine Rasmussen, who not long ago worked as a secretary to help fund her badminton, will defend her title the All-England Open which starts on Wednesday as the only woman who has loosened the Chinese dominance.

The last decade has seen 43 of the 50 All-England titles go to Asian players, fully 29 of them to China. And in women's singles eight of the last ten were won by Chinese.

But despite being past her mid-twenties before making her surge from obscurity, Rasmussen is now world number one, the winner of the first two Super Series tournaments of 2009, and a reasonable bet, in European conditions, to test the world's greatest badminton nation again this week.

The 29-year-old Dane is tall and striking, and her style strong and attacking, but her character is an intriguing mix of assertiveness and vulnerability. She also attributes her wonderful start to the year in Korea and Malaysia partly to the power of love.

"Um, I think we, er, we had some things at home, private stuff," she said with an engaging diffidence. "And it was finished.

"We were building up our house, me and my boy-friend, and we had a lot of stuff to decide on all this time. And just before Christmas we moved in," she said.

Because she is often recognised in the streets in Copenhagen, Rasmussen will wisely reveal only that their house is in Fredenborg, just north of the Danish capital. But about her emotions she was more forthcoming.

"It all gave me a feeling of being relaxed," she said.

"I also was able to let go of myself and play my best. Because when badminton becomes everything in my little world up here," she said, pointing in jest to her head.

"It gives me pressure."

"But when I feel I can have a perfect life, and a perfect family, all those things make badminton a smaller thing. That was maybe why I played my best after Christmas."

The influential boy-friend is Martin Baun, who is also the Danish team physio, and therefore around to lend support much of the time.

"He's been asking questions, maybe that I haven't been asked before, and asking some questions which hurt," Rasmussen volunteered bravely. "But they help me get better."

She also has a better understanding of why she wins against some of the Chinese players.

"Lu Lan is a very good player, and rarely loses to anyone much lower, but in a final maybe doesn't have the same confidence," Ramussen reckoned.

"She's the most stable player and I have a lot of fights with her, but the last three times I was the winner, so that's fine by me," she said, smiling.

"Zhu Lin didn't show much confidence since the Olympics, maybe because she was disappointed," Rasmussen claims.

"She can play higher than Lu Lan but she can play quite a bit lower too. But she can play like the world champion she is.

Even though Rasmussen beat Wang Chen both in Malaysia and Korea, she still emphasised the Hong Kong player's good points.

"She has fine movement, and is very clever on court as well," she says.

"But it's like she plays when she's in the mood. If she isn't, she doesn't play that well. Maybe the injuries are her biggest enemy now".

Rasmussen will also have to cope with two other Chinese, Zhou Mi and Xie Xingfang, both of whom have won the All-England title before.

"But I see them all as players I am even with," she says. "If I play my best it is difficult for them to play me with the right tactics."

How did she come to compete so well with such great players?

Among the many answers are a recovery from a long-lasting achilles injury, a new scoring system which suited her, increased confidence, and greater professionalism in diet, training, schedule, and psychology.

"I have always had a strong attack; it has always been a big part of my game. But it just had to come together, you know," she explained.

"I used to make a lot of mistakes and I was not that good at running on court, and maybe mentally I was not that strong against the best players," she admitted.

Inevitably she finds herself saddled with comparisons with her former team mate, Camilla Martin, the 2002 All-England champion, and 1999 world champion.

"I have just a few titles and she has won 15 or more," Rasmussen emphasises. "This has nothing to do with Camilla. She is one of a kind. I want to be just Tine and show that Danish women's singles is still on top."

Inevitably too, expectations have escalated. "She is our Chinese killer," Thomas Stuer Lauridsen, a Danish coaches, once memorably said, without meaning offence to the world's best badminton nation. "But she is one against many Chinese. China will always be the favourites."

Fancied pair Koo-Tan can’t afford to rest on their laurels

One of the early men’s doubles favourites Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong cannot afford to take forty winks in the All-England even in the absence of two key pairs.

A number of scratch combinations and rising young pairs will be lurking dangerously to scalp them in Birmingham.

On Monday, the organisers confirmed the withdrawal of the Olympic and world champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia due to the former’s knee injury.

The Indonesian top seeds have been replaced by qualifiers Kasper Faust Henriksen-Christian John Skovgaard in the main draw.

The men’s doubles event had also lost some of its glitter earlier when South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung announced that they will not defend the title because of the latter’s obligation to serve under the country’s military programme.

In their absence, 2007 champions Kien Keat-Boon Heong and 2005 winners Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China will start as favourites.

Denmark will have two strong pairs — second seeds Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen and Mathias Boe-Carsten Morgensen — in the pack to challenge for the title.

The others expected to give a good account of themselves are Malaysia’s Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif and England’s Anthony Clark-Nathan Robertson.

But one cannot underestimate the scratch partnerships of Yong-dae-Shin Baek-cheol and Indonesians Candra Wijaya-Joko Riyadi.

Yong-dae-Baek-cheol in winning the German Open last Sunday showed that they have the ability to spike the early favourites.

Candra-Joko are playing in their first international tournament and Indonesia can count on the experience of the former to make the pair strong challengers.

In the Malaysian Open in January, Candra teamed up with Luluk Hadiyanto for the first time and they reached the quarter-finals.

Kien Keat-Boon Heong are expected to meet Candra-Joko in the second round.

Said Kien Keat: “It will not be easy to play against a pair we have not played against before. But we are well prepared and it is our hope to do well in our third outing in the All-England.”

Indonesia will also be banking on two younger pairs — Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano and Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan — to ruffle some feathers.

The Koreans, in a bid to add more depth to the men’s doubles, have in the competition three other upcoming pairs — Han Sang-hoon-Hwang Ji-man, Cho Gun-woo-Ko Sung-hyun and Kwon Yi-goo-Yoo Yeon-seong.

(Source: thestar.com.my)

Yong-dae and Baek-cheol among the pairs to watch in Birmingham

South Korean scratch pair of Lee Yong-dae-Shin Baek-cheol have put themselves among the pairs to watch in the All-England after making a point in the just concluded German Open.

In Mulheim, Yong-dae-Baek-cheol, who are playing in an international tournament as a pair for the first time, claimed the men’s doubles title beating Japanese Kenichi Hayakawa-Kenta Kazuno 21-13, 21-16 in the final last Sunday.

Yong-dae is with Baek-cheol because his regular partner, Jung Jae-sung, is not available because of his obligation to serve under the national military programme. Yong-dae-Jae-sung won the All-England title last year.

With Yong-dae-Baek-cheol’s recent exploits, they are seen as the dark horses to emerge as the All-England champions.

They are in the same half of the draw as Malaysia’s Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and England’s Anthony Clark-Nathan Robertson.

The absence of top seeds and Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia have further opened up the race to reach the final from this half of the draw. Yong-dae-Baek-cheol could be up against Zakry-Fairuzizuan in the semi-finals.

(Source: thestar.com.my)