Chinese crown wobbles<\/p>\n
Dave Thompson, Reuters\/Athens<\/p>\n
China's Olympic badminton crown wobbled in Athens as ex-power
\nIndonesia recovered some of their past glories after victory in
\nthe prestige men's singles with Taufik Hidayat finally fulfilling
\nhis huge potential.<\/p>\n
The Chinese, who won four out of five golds in Sydney, dropped
\nto three in Athens and it could have been two but for a late
\nrally by mixed doubles pair Zhang Jun and Gao Lin.<\/p>\n
They just ousted battling Britons Nathan Robertson and Gail
\nEmms in a classic three-set final, edging home to retain their
\nSydney title after trailing in the decider.<\/p>\n
The big surprise of the tournament was China's failure to hang
\non to the men's singles title after the first round exit of hot
\nfavorite Lin Dan and subsequent departures of the highly rated
\nChen Hong and Bao Chunlai.<\/p>\n
That left the way clear for Indonesia's stormy petrel Hidayat
\nto glitter on the world stage.<\/p>\n
A controversial figure whose temper has sometimes eclipsed his
\ntalent, Hidayat swept past Shon Seung-mo of South Korea 15-8 15-7
\nin a one-sided final.<\/p>\n
His victory had been signposted by Denmark's Peter Gade,
\nbeaten by the new champion in the quarterfinals after fighting a
\nfamiliar lonely battle against the might of Asia.<\/p>\n
His ex-fiancee, fellow Dane Camilla Martin, is well aware of
\nthe matching syndrome in the women's singles though ironically
\nshe was beaten in her final Olympics by a European, Britain's
\nTracey Hallam.<\/p>\n
Hallam then fell to Mia Audina, but the former Indonesian, now
\nrepresenting the Netherlands, was outlasted in the final by
\nChinese world champion Zhang Ning who won 8-11 11-6 11-7.<\/p>\n
Top seeds Zhang Jiewen and Yang Wei won an all-Chinese clash
\nin the women's doubles and Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon kept the
\nSouth Korean flag flying in the men's doubles.<\/p>\n
Crowds, disappointing at first, picked up impressively for the
\nlater stages, but will be eclipsed in four years time in Beijing
\nwith the sport back in one of its strongholds.<\/p>",
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