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Chinese team skipping major badminton tourneys

Saturday, 27th December 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Two weeks after pulling out of the Super Series Masters in Malaysia, the China Badminton Association announced that its players will skip the next two Super Series events in favor of recovering from injuries and attending training camp. China will miss the Malaysian Open, Jan. 6 to 11, and the Korean Open, January 13 to 18.

China's absence from the tournaments means that Olympic gold medalists Lin Dan (林丹, men's singles), Zhang Ning (张宁, women's singles), Du Jing and Yu Yang (women's doubles) will not compete.

Tags: Badminton, Du Jing, Lin Dan, Yu Yang, Zhang Ning

Bao Chunlai advances at China Masters

Thursday, 25th September 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

Chinese players and pairs are 7-6 after one day of play at the China Masters Super Series in Changzhou, Jiangsu province. Olympian Bao Chunlai, along with Chen Jin, Li Yu and Gong Weijie, Qiu Yanbo, Chen Yiu and Wang Yihan all won on a day where three of the matches pitted Chinese players against each other. Bao took three sets to beat Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, and joked that his new haircut might have clinched him the win. "Perhaps he felt uncomfortable with my new hair, so he lost the game," Bao said, according to a press release from tournament organizers. Bao is sporting a shaved head for the tournament. He is China's biggest star playing in this event; gold medalists Lin Dan (men) and Xie Xingfang (women) are not competing.

Women's doubles and mixed doubles play starts Thursday and the tournament runs through September 28. The tournament is sponsored by Chinese sports apparel brand Li-Ning.

Image: 2008 Li-Ning China Masters

Tags: badminton, Bao Chunlai, Changzhou, Jiangsu

Day Seven: 4 golds, 2 bronzes for China

Saturday, 16th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

China pulled in four gold medals on Friday, along with two bronzes. It was enough to keep China ahead of the United States in the gold medal count, but not enough to eclipse the USA's overall lead.

Weightlifting
Cao Lei (women's 75 kg ) and Lu Yong (men's 85 kg) kept the momentum in weightlifting going, winning China's gold medals number seven and eight in the sport.

Badminton
China won both gold and bronze in women's badminton doubles. In the gold medal match, Du Jing and Yu Yang beat Lee Kyung-won and Lee Hyo-jung of South Korea (21-15, 21-14). In the bronze medal match, Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen, who had lost to Du and Yu in the semifinals, beat the Japanese duo of Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna (21-17, 21-10).

Judo
Tong Wen took down Maki Tsukada of Japan to claim gold in the women's +78 kg division.

Gymnastics
Yang Yiling took bronze in the women's gymnastics all-around, coming in behind Americans Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson. Yang's best performance was on uneven bars, where she tallied a 16.725, the highest score given in any event of the competition. Her 15.75 on the beam placed her fourth in that discipline, but her scores on the vault (15.175) and the floor routine (15.00) gave her an overall of 62.650, not enough to beat out Johnson's 62.725 for silver.

Image: BOCOG

Tags: badminton, Beijing Olympics, Cao Lei, Du Jing, gymnastics, judo, Lu Yong, Olympics, Tong Wen, Wei Yili, weightlifting, Yang Yiling, Yu Yang, Zhang Yawen

Lin and Xie Survive First-Round Scares in Thailand

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

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)

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

China Defends Major Badminton Titles

Wednesday, 21st May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

China's men's and women's badminton teams both defended their titles in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the Thomas and Uber Cups over the weekend. The event, which combines the Uber Cup for women and the Thomas Cup for men, is one of the most important in international badminton. Teams face off in two doubles and two singles matches.

The Chinese women swept Indonesia, winning three matches to none. Xie Xinfang beat Maria Kristin (21-8, 21-15); Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen defeated Lilyana Natsir and Marissa Vita (21-15, 19-21, 21-16); Lu Lan clinched the title with a win over Adriyanti Firdasari (21-12, 21-10).

The Chinese men notched a 3-1 Thomas Cup victory over South Korea, with singles wins from Lin Dan over Park Sung-hwan (10-21, 21-18, 21-8); Bao Chunlai over Lee Hyun-il (28-26, 21-11); and Xie Zhong Bo/Guo Zhengdong over Lee Jae-jin/Hwang Ji-man (21-12, 19-21, 21-12). China's one loss came in doubles, with South Korea's Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae beating Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng (25-23, 21-16).

The Thomas and Uber Cup wins are a good sign for China's hopes for Olympic medals in badminton. China boasts the top male and female players, Lin Dan and Xie Xinfang, and expects multiple medals in August.

"Anytime you win an important tournament like this it gives you a boost," Lin was quoted as saying by the International Herald-Tribune. "The first goal was this tournament, now the next goal is the Olympics."

Image: Xinhua

Tags: badminton, Lin Dan, Olympics, Xie Xinfang

Xie Leads China to Badminton Uber Cup Final

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

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

Lin Dan: National Hero or Spoiled Brat?

Saturday, 12th April 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

He's the number one player in the world in one of China's most popular sports, but sometimes badminton star Lin Dan looks more than a kid with a bad temper than like the athlete-ambassador he could be. He showed his hothead side recently when he punched his own coach during a doubles practice session. China Daily's story about the incident also refers to an earlier altercation between Lin and South Korea's head coach. Maybe he's just trying to show Yi Jianlian how to look a little meaner.

The story came out right after the entry lists for the Asian Badminton Championships were made public. Lin Dan will be playing in the event starting April 15 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, along with several of China's other top players. The tournament will help determine seeding for the Olympics in August.

Update: Lin denies clocking his coach but the paper that originally reported it is sticking by its story. Head coach Li Yongbo doubts the veracity of the story and the alleged target of Lin's rage, coach Ji Xinpeng, only says that something "displeasing" happened.

Image: China Daily

Tags: badminton, Lin Dan

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