China sets sights on badminton gold

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

After winning the prestigious men's and women's Thomas and Uber Cup badminton championships, China is now setting its sights on a gold medal sweep at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

China's team manager, Li Yongbo, said early on Monday at about 2 a.m. -- after China had beaten European giant Denmark 3-1 in the Thomas Cup final here -- that he was proud of his shuttlers' performance in Jakarta and had high hopes for them at the Olympics from Aug. 13 to Aug. 29. China waited 14 years since its last victory in 1992 to bring home the Thomas Cup.

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, China brought home four golds -- Ji Xinpeng in the men's singles, Gong Ruina in women's singles, Gao Ling and Xang Jun in mixed doubles and Ge Fei and Gu Jun in women's doubles. Indonesia won one gold medal in the men's doubles with Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan.

China's 13-member team that will be going to Athens is filled with champions, and the country is a hot favorite to come home with multiple golds. However, Li said the Olympics would be different than the Thomas and Uber Cups because it was an individual event.

Denmark head coach Steen Pedersen said that although China was strong as a team, the Olympics would test the psychological toughness of the individual athletes.

He said he was confident of his shuttlers' chances in the Olympics and the 2006 Thomas and Uber Cups in Sendai and Tokyo, Japan, although their current average age is 29, compared to 22 for the Chinese team.

Jonas Rasmussen, who partners Lars Paaske as a member of the world's top-ranked men's doubles team, is 26 years old, making him the youngest member of Denmark's squad, while the 34-year-old Jens Eriksen is the oldest.

2000 Olympic silver medalist Camilla Martin, who is also the 1999 world champion, will turn 30 this year, while most of the top women's shuttlers in the world are between the ages of 19 and 25.

"European players hit their peak later than Asians, so some of the players may still be there," Pedersen said, adding that Denmark would send 10 players to Athens.

Pedersen said new players would eventually make their way to the national team, but it would take time to groom them into world-class players.

South Korean team manager Kim Jong-soo said his women's shuttlers, who lost to China in the Uber Cup final on Saturday, were targeting gold medals ion the women's doubles as well as the mixed doubles at the Olympics.

Lee Hyo-jung and Hwang Yu-mi defeated China's top women's pairing of Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen 15-7, 15-10 in the Uber Cup final.

"Athens will be our next focus and we will work hard for the Olympics by competing at the Malaysian Open and the Indonesia Open after this," Kim said.

South Korea will send 12 players to Athens. Indonesia will send 14 players to the Olympics, consisting of two in the men's singles, six in the men's doubles, four in the mixed doubles and two in the women's doubles.