China defeats Indonesia for fifth Sudirman Cup title
China defeats Indonesia for fifth Sudirman Cup title
Agencies, Beijing
China exorcised its demons from two years ago with a 3-0 win over Indonesia on Sunday, taking the Sudirman Cup for the fifth time in nine editions of the world mixed team badminton championships.
Winning the title in front of a home crowd for the first time made for sweet revenge for China, who saw its run of four consecutive victories snapped by South Korea in 2003.
The victorious team, led by coach Li Yongyo, ascended the podium at the Capital Gymnasium to lift the cup, named after Indonesia's "father of badminton" who steered the country to its greatest triumphs in international arenas from the 1950s to 1980s.
Indonesia, who won the inaugural biennial Sudirman Cup in 1989 in Jakarta, was unable to match the awesome strength and depth of the Chinese shuttlers.
The latter did not lose a match throughout the six-day tournament and only surrendered four games -- one to Hong Kong in men's singles, one to Korea in mixed doubles and two to Indonesia, both in mixed doubles, in the group tie and final.
Indonesia's Sudirman Cup team manager Christian Hadinata said the task of beating the Chinese at home was made more difficult after Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir lost a tough opening mixed doubles to Olympic champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling 12-15, 15-5, 15-8.
"It would have been very difficult for our women players to win after we lost the opening match, one of our strengths," Christian told The Jakarta Post by phone from Beijing.
He credited his players for their "extraordinary" performance in reaching the final, including a 3-0 win over Denmark in the semifinals.
"We have to be positive that the team gave their maximum performance to reach the final. To come this far is prestigious in itself. The players did very well."
The Indonesian team is scheduled to return to Jakarta on Monday night.
The second contest produced the match of the tournament, with China's world number one Lin Dan taking on Taufik Hidayat, the Athens Olympic gold medalist.
Both scampered around the court in a series of stunning rallies. The 21-year-old Lin shot off to a 4-0 lead but after that they matched each other shot for shot.
Lin, however, held his nerve to clinch the first game 17-15, and then outthought his opponent to take the second game 15-9.
"I tried to play a more controlled game to try and force Taufik into being impatient. I think it worked very well," said Lin.
Zhang Ning, the women's world number two, sealed China's victory with an 11-1, 11-7 demolition of Fransisca Hari, her team's hero on Saturday in her decisive win over Camilla Sorensen of Denmark.
"They all played and performed well," Li was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. "The players are now going to chill out for a short while."
Sunday night's win completed the triple sweep Li had been hoping for -- the Sudirman along with the Thomas and Uber cups from last year.
But Li is already making more plans. "We have new missions," he said. "We will now be attaching importance to the world championships, the Asian Games and the Thomas and Uber Cup."
The 10th Sudirman Cup will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in June 2007.