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Lin and Xie Survive First-Round Scares in Thailand

Friday, 27th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Lin Dan
Lin Dan
China's top badminton players, Lin Dan （林丹）and Xie Xingfang (谢杏芳) both survived first-round scares in the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold, being held in Bangkok's Nimibutr Gymnasium.

In the three-game matches, Xie and Lin both took three games to defeat their opponents. Xie, the world's number one women's player, beat unseeded Julia Pei Xian Wong from Malaysia 21-17, 19-21, 21-19. The 55-minute match tied for the longest of the day. Lin, the top male player in the world, needed three games (21-11, 17-21, 21-14) to dispose of unseeded Thai player Vilailak Pakkawat.

The next matches went more smoothly for both of China's singles players. Lin has played twice since, beating Hsieh Yu Hsin of Chinese Taipei (21-18, 21-13) and Kozai Kazuteru of Japan (21-13, 21-12). Xie took out Yuswandari Aprillia of Indonesia, 21-10, 21-12.

The tournament runs through this Sunday.

Image: 98w.com.cn

Tags: badminton, Lin Dan, Xie Xingfang

Badminton World Ranks Released

Saturday, 7th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Badminton royalty Xie and Lin
Badminton royalty Xie and Lin
The International Badminton Federation's new global rankings are out, and China, unsurprisingly, dominates all categories. Lin Dan (林丹) and Xie Xingfang (谢杏芳), China's first couple of badminton, are, respectively, the top male and female players. China holds the top four spots in the women's game, with Lu Lan, Zhu Lin (朱琳) and Zhang Nin (张宁) in positions two through four. In the men's game, Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei is in second place behind Lin Dan and two Chinese men, Bao Chunlai (鲍春来) and Chen Jin (陈金), occupy third and fourth rank.

The top Chinese men's doubles team, Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun, are ranked third in the world. The top three women's doubles pairs are all Chinese (Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen; Zhang Yawen and Wei Yili; Du Jing and Yu Yang).

China also has the world's second and third-ranked mixed doubles teams—Zheng Bo and Gao Ling; He Hanbin and Yu Yang.

Judging from the rankings, the strongest teams outside of China are Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia.

(A link to the International Badminton Federation's Web site was not included above because its Google search result comes up with warnings about the page causing problems to your computer. Here is a link to the Google results page.)

Image: Beijing 2008

Tags: badminton, Lin Dan, rankings, Xie Xingfang, Zhang Nin

Xie Leads China to Badminton Uber Cup Final

Friday, 16th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Xie Xingfang, current World No. 1
Xie Xingfang, current World No. 1
Jakarta, Indonesia—With a 3-1 win over South Korea, China's women's badminton team advanced to the finals of the Uber Cup, a major badminton tournament taking place at Senayan Sports Complex in Jakarta this week.

Current world No. 1 Xie Xingfang won her sets against Hwang Hye-youn, 21-9 and 21-19. Lu Lan also won her game, and the doubles squad of Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen also won in three sets. China will face the home team, which advanced by beating Germany 3-1, in the finals Saturday.

The men's team plays Malaysia in the semifinals today. The matches are airing on CCTV Sports at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Image: Yonex USA

Tags: badminton, Xie Xingfang