Tue, Sep 26, 2006 page18

• Lin, Xie claim badminton singles titles

  RED SPREAD The success of couple Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang in the singles titles underlined China's dominance of the badminton world championships

  • AFP
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  Lin Dan (林丹) and Xie Xing-fang (謝杏芳) made sure that there can be another romantic celebration by winning the badminton world singles titles within a couple of hours of each other at the Palacio de Deportes in Madrid on Sunday.

  After Lin and his girlfriend Xie both won singles titles at the All-England Open championships in January they celebrated with a ride together on the fairground big wheel in Birmingham.

  Now there will be reason for a special evening again after each beat fellow teammates, Xie making a successful defense of the women's singles title and Lin winning the men's singles for the first time.

  He did that with a 18-21, 21-17, 21-10 victory over the seventh-seeded Bao Chunlai, while she beat top-seeded Zhang Ning 21-18, 21-14.

  "It's really good that Lin Dan won as well as me," Xie said. "It's better for me that we win together. But actually it was more exciting to win for the first time."

  nothing planned

  But prising out of her where they might celebrate this time was harder.

  "It's difficult because we don't know where to go here," she claimed, and then added: "It will depend on whether the coaches have decided anything for us."

  The only surprise was that Lin, who has been the world's best player for much of the past three years had never won the world title before.

  But he seems to reserve his almost unbeatable brilliance for certain occasions and, in this match against Bao, for special phases of the contest.

  There were times, as for instance in the final few points of the first game, when he seemed to be taking it all too casually.

  And there were others, such as the phase from 17-17 in the second and throughout much of the third, when he played at a higher speed and burst out from periods of defense with bursts of thrilling attack.

  Bao once again showed the steady temperament, good defense and ability to counter-attack which brought him surprise wins earlier in the week against Lee Chong Wei, the No. 1 seed from Malaysia, and Lee Hyun-Il, the No. 5 seed from Korea.

  But in the final stages he was outplayed by Lin, who revealed the full extent of the dominance he could impose on the point at 19-10, flick-serving the shuttle over his opponent's head, moving forward, and nearly burying Bao's return of serve through the floor.

  Through these contrasts it had not always been easy to gauge Lin's frame of mind, but that became clear with his spectacular celebration.

  He held his head as if amazed, fell slowly over as if unconscious, rolled over with his shirt over his head, and raised his legs repeatedly in the air. When he got up he embraced Bao like a bear.

  "I'm not sad at being second, because I did my best and I believe I will do better in future," the 23-year-old loser said.

  "I was very excited," said Lin, which sounded very much like an understatement.

  "After losing to Taufik [Hidayat of Indonesia] in the final last year I decided to work extra hard. I've kept up a high level all this year with the training I have done. But I'm not unhappy that I didn't meet Taufik face to face this time [he was beaten by Chen Hong] -- I am just happy with the result," he said.

  inevitable

  Xie's victory, though in theory a seeding upset, had a feeling of inevitability.

  It repeated the results of last year's final in Anaheim, California, and the rallies often had the feeling of a training exercise.

  China duly won four of the five titles when the top-seeded Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng outplayed England's Anthony Clark and Robert Blair 21-9, 21-13 in the men's doubles final.

  They provided both finalists in three of the events as well, and nearly had all four of the men's singles semi-finalists. It was another reminder that the Beijing Olympics are not far away.

  However Clark was the only player in the tournament to win two medals, finishing runner-up in the mixed doubles as well, with Donna Kellogg.

  They lost 21-15, 21-12 to their English compatriots, Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms, who thus added the world gold to the Commonwealth gold they won in Melbourne in March and the Olympic silver in Athens two years ago.

  They will retire at the Beijing Olympics -- as will Zhang Ning.
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