China sets sights on badminton gold

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.