China are steeling for a ferocious fight against ever-improving Asian and European rivals as they gun for a clean sweep of the Olympic badminton gold medals.
China boast the world’s top shuttlers on the men’s and women’s sides, but their blanket dominance of the sport has slipped in the run-up to the Games, as Malaysia, Denmark, Indonesia and South Korea close the gap.
China head coach Li Yongbo, who drills his charges with military precision, concedes they face stiff competition in Beijing.
But he is confident of success and put a positive spin on having a chasing pack as China battle to increase their haul of three out of five golds in Athens and four in Sydney.
“It is clear, and we should be happy, that the level of badminton is rising all across the world, which is good for the development of the sport,” Li said at the recent Thomas and Uber Cups in Jakarta.
China eventually seized control of the courts in Indonesia — one of the last major tune-ups before the Games — thumping South Korea in the men’s final and Indonesia in the women’s.
But some of the individual performances of China’s most celebrated stars, who have won every trophy the sport has to offer, raised eyebrows.
World No. 1 and top Olympic seed Lin Dan, known as “Super Dan” to his fans, was trounced in one game by Malaysian champion Lee Chong Wei, handing the world No. 2 a major confidence boost ahead of Beijing.
Lin’s girlfriend and top seed on the women’s side, Xie Xingfang, was downed by Dutch star Yao Jie, seeded 18 for Beijing, compounding Xie’s problems after she was bundled out of this year’s prestigious All England Championships in the first round.
Despite the losses, China boasts the world’s top four women’s singles players — including Athens gold medalist Zhang Ning — rankings which entitle them, under qualifying rules, to three spots instead of two.
China’s men have three shuttlers in the top four, meaning world champion Lin will be joined by Bao Chunlai and All England title holder Chen Jin.
The trio are set for tough battles against a tenacious Lee, desperate for his first gold for Malaysia.
Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat will also challenge hard, although the Indonesian camp has cast doubt on his chances of holding onto the title.
Denmark’s Kenneth Jonassen and Peter Gade also threaten on the men’s side, along with South Korean underdogs Park Sung-hwan and Lee Hyun-il.
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
‘A HISTORIC moment’: ‘I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer,’ league commissioner Don Garber said Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. The Argentine opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, who now get two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s two-and-a-half-year tenure with the team. Game
‘COMPLETE GAME’: ‘To be honest, I’m not sure about the history, but I’m very happy about what I did today,’ Yamamoto said through a translator after the game Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a World Series game from another era. Sandy Koufax had October outings like this, and so did Orel Hershiser, but those types of performances have vanished in modern baseball. Until this 178cm starter from Japan delivered like the aces of old. Yamamoto threw a four-hitter for his second consecutive complete game, the first in the World Series since 2015, and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday night to tie their best-of-seven matchup at one game apiece. “It’s kind of the throwback,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he starts a game, he
Japan’s narrow defeat by Australia showed they can compete with the best teams in the world, coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 loss yesterday. Australia coach Joe Schmidt led the Wallabies for the first time against Eddie Jones, his predecessor and now Japan coach. During Jones’ second tenure as Australia coach, the Wallabies lost seven of nine tests and were eliminated in group play at the 2023 World Cup. “What I’m super pleased about is that now we [Japan] are a team that stays in the fight,” Jones told reporters. “We kept going, we could have won
RSS