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China to dominate badminton finals day
2005-03-12
BIRMINGHAM, England - China will dominate the All England Championships again after filling seven of Sunday's 10 badminton finals berths and guaranteed both singles titles.Defending champion and world No. 1 Lin Dan completed the semifinal program on Saturday in front of a capacity 4,500 crowd by beating world runner-up and ninth-seeded Wong Choong Hann of Thailand 15-8, 12-15, 15-1. He led 9-7 in the second but allowed Wong back in before romping away with the decider in a manner that suggested he could have settled it in two. In the final, he will meet 2002 champion and 2003 runner-up Chen Hong, who downed seventh-seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 15-13, 15-10. ``I'm not nervous about the final,'' Lin said. ``I am pleased that we already know the gold will go to China. ``I know Chen Hong well. We are friends. I am looking forward to playing him.'' Lin and Chen were 2-2 against each other, and Chen said, ``I think I have a good chance to win.'' Women's world and Olympic champion Zhang Ning was eventually too strong for Japanese star Eriko Hirose 11-4, 9-11, 11-1 in 41 minutes, and will chase her first All England title but China's eighth in nine years. In the final she will face third-seeded Xie Xingfang, who trailed Zhang 5-4 in their head-to-head, but won their most recent meeting eight days ago at the German Open 11-5, 11-4. On Saturday, Xie beat Olympic silver medallist Mia Audina Tjiptawan of the Netherlands 11-8, 11-5 to end Europe's hopes of singles success. Audina blamed the scheduling, having not gone on court for her quarterfinal until just before midnight on Friday. ``Last night I played really late. I was the last one on and that is not good for me. I didn't have enough rest,'' she said. ``I think Xie will win the final. She is the fittest one since the Olympics. I have only been back in training three weeks and this is my first tournament since Athens. But I will be back next year.'' A record Birmingham crowd of 20,000 overall will have watched this week's championships, and another capacity 4,500 crowd will be back on Sunday to see if Gao Ling and Huang Sui can make it five All England women's doubles titles in a row. In the final they face teammates Wei Yili and Zhao Tingting. China have the chance of a fourth of the five titles through Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, but they will be up against 2003 world champions Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen, who will be bidding to keep the title in Danish hands. The obvious reason for the huge crowds has been the success of England's Olympic mixed doubles silver medallists Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms. They will face Denmark's Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl in the one final China can't win. The four mixed players know each other well, playing for the same Hvidovre club in Copenhagen but the England pair will start favorite as it bids to be the first home winner since 1999. The European and English champions want to give their Danish-born performance director Finn Traerup-Hansen a fitting farewell before he returns to Copenhagen at the end of the month to take a similar job with the Danish Badminton Federation. ``I think they can win. They are playing at another level,'' Traerup said. AP
Badminton-Holder Lin slumps to All England defeat (2005-03-13)Badminton-Super Dan easing Olympic heartache (2005-03-12)China to dominate badminton finals day (2005-03-12)Lin Dan on course for badminton repeat (2005-03-11)12 (11285)
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