Chinese shuttlers win 3 more titles

Chinese shuttlers win 3 more titles

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After winning the girls' team event, China took another three
individual titles at the Asian Junior Badminton Championship
which ended here on Sunday.

Sunday's finals saw China-South Korea rivalry with the latter,
who had already won the boys' team crown, bagging the remaining
two titles on offer at the Senayan Tennis Indoor Stadium, Central
Jakarta.

China triumphed in both singles matches with Wang Lin
defeating compatriot Wang Yihan 11-4, 11-9 to take the girls'
title and Lu Wicheng thumping Hong Ji Hoon of Korea 15-2, 15-3 to
secure the boys' title.

Cheng Shu/Liao Jingmei contributed the third victory for the
team in the girls' doubles with a 11-15, 15-12, 15-5 win over
Korean pair Ha Jung En/Hong Soo Jung.

In the other ties the Koreans emerged the victors. Lee Young
Dae/Ha Jung Eun came back to win the mixed doubles over Zhang
Wei/Liao Jingmei 11-15, 15-18, 15-2.

Lee and his doubles pair Cho Gun Woo also won the boys'
doubles title, also in three sets, over Zhang and Shen Ye 8-15,
15-8, 15-8.

Chairwoman of the Asian Junior Badminton Championship Mimi
Irawan said the championship results did not take her by
surprise.

"Chinese and Korean players prove that they are still the
dominant forces in the championship," she said.

"Although we failed to reach the finals, Indonesian junior
players have made good progress compared to previous years as
they managed to advance to the semifinal," she said

Meanwhile, deputy chairman of the International Badminton
Federation (IBF) Punch Gunalan of Malaysia announced a planned
experiment of a new scoring system in a bid to make badminton
more attractive.

The game will adopt a score of 21, compared to 15, and will be
played in rally points like volleyball. The game will be a best
of three.

"We will start introducing the new scoring at national
championships all over the world, but not in the international
event as yet," he said.

"The new scoring system will be discussed at the annual
general meeting at the end of this year to decide whether it will
be used or not in the international competition."

Earlier on the day, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, who is the
incumbent chairman of Indonesian badminton governing body PBSI,
was installed as the president of the Asian Badminton
Confederation (ABC), replacing Kang Young Joong of Korea.