OLYMPIC WS PREVIEW : China Poised for 3rd Straight Gold

The Beijing Olympics badminton Women’s Singles draw boasts the largest participation amongst the five disciplines with 47 players. Athletes from as far as Iceland, Australia, Egypt, and Mexico will smash it out amongst the heavyweights of the sport Denmark, UK, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea.

Having the maximum allowable three players in this event, the hosts have covered all bets: experience, talent, and youth. A fairytale script and photographer’s dream would be Xie Xingfang and boyfriend Lin Dan, both world #1’s, winning gold.

By Aaron Wong, Badzine Correspondent. Photos: Badmintonphoto

Zhang Ning (pictured) made her Olympic debut at age 29 and won the gold medal. As far back as the 2005 World Championships in California, she vowed to return and she has, as the 2nd seed. Country loyalties aside, you can admire the stroke production and body condition of an athlete who is proof of lasting at this level of competition.

Team orders were rumoured about the Sydney games and admitted to for Athens. Let’s have none of that this time as team orders would mean that one of the matches, probably a semifinal, would be a fraud and that is not what the Olympics are about.

Let’s break the draw into four pieces and take a closer look.

1st Quarter: The Long and Short of Winning

The opening rounds of the badminton singles Olympics draw lack the intensity of a Super Series. The most appealing early fixture is world #1 Xie Xingfang (China) versus Cheng Shao-Chieh (Taiwan). We could be staring at an upset if the top seed has “opening night” jitters and the underdog can repeat something she has done before. It is a tall order for Cheng, given their significant height and ranking differences, but the Taiwanese has shocked Xie 3 times in a row and emerged victorious in the last 2.

Xie has several diminutive opponents in her path. The Japanese and Malaysian doubles teams have embraced video analysis of their opponents in their preparations. So too, all short players who could come up against Xie should study footage of how Cheng, Yip Pui Yin, Wong Mew Choo and Tracey Hallam have successfully overcome the world #1’s explosive style; and also where Xu Huaiwen (Germany) and Pi Hongyan (France) failed trying.

Xie might also have to contend with a string of formidable youngsters, not least Cheng. There is the winner of the Olga Konon (Belarus)/ Xing Aiying (Singapore) match ahead, where Xing might just have the edge since consistently delivering breakthrough performances against top seeds at majors in the recent 2 months. Jump smasher Yip Pui Yin (Hong Kong) could rendezvous with Xie but she first needs to negotiate past veteran Tracey Hallam of the UK, who is world ranked two spots lower, followed probably by the never-say-die 7th seed Xu Huaiwen.

Can twice European Champion Xu summon a personal best to achieve a medal in Beijing as she has never beaten Xie Xingfang? This is a very likely quarter-final as Xu regularly makes it to the final four in competitions since 2005.

2nd Quarter: Malaysia Can

Of the top three seeds, all being Chinese, Lu Lan (ranked 2, seeded 3) has the most manageable route to the semi-finals.

The non-native seeds being talking up as medal chances are Tine Rasmussen of Denmark and Wong Mew Choo (pictured above) of Malaysia, seeded 6th and 8th respectively. Being in different halves of the draw, they will not cancel each other out early on. Both of them will be tested by quality opponents; Wong by Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva who is a former top 10 player, and Rasmussen by Indonesia Open and Uber Cup finalist Maria Kristin Yulianti. According to the BWF website, neither head-to-head encounter has occurred before.

Wong Mew Choo has a better-than-average chance against Lu Lan if their quarter-final eventuates because during the last 12 months she has posted the latest win over each of the Chinese players here, including on their home soil.

3rd Quarter: Déjà Vu for Someone

Apart from foreseeing a Yulianti/Rasmussen clash, most people also wish to be entertained by India's Saina Newhal (pictured left) versus 4th seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in the round of 16.

Wang Chen (pictured below) played a near perfect 2007 World Championships, unexpectedly falling apart mentally in the final. She beat Rasmussen along the way, and neutralised everything Zhang Ning threw at her. Wang has a W.C. Bronze, and Silver, and she will feel she can to go better at these Olympics because only a year ago she tasted success over roughly the same line up.

4th Quarter: Complete Player Must Use all her Tools

The defending champion Zhang Ning is not invincible in the era of the rally point scoring system, but of all the players she has the most complete tool belt (strokes, footwork, physical build, mentality, and most importantly, experience). Should she reach the final again, she will have been tested more times or more severely than the other finalist.

Hers is not an enviable draw. Her campaign begins against Salakjit Ponsana (Thailand) to whom she has never lost. Thereafter, awaits a gauntlet of shuttlers whose calibre it would be risky to underestimate such as Jun Jae Youn (Korea), followed by either Eriko Hirose (Japan) or 5th seed Pi Hongyan.

Pi Hongyan, like Xu Huaiwen, though seeded, is not widely tipped as a medal hope because both are originally Chinese trained and they are on a collision course with Chinese players (and coaches) who know their running game inside-out.

FRESH MEANING & FRESH THRILLS

Ultimately, people want another final as thrilling as the Athens one which really showcased the 2 best players at the time as well as contrasting styles and physiques. It was anyone’s game up to 5-5 in the third and deciding game and 55 minutes into proceedings.

The Olympics is the most prestigious crown, and is the only one that Zhang Ning has that Xie Xingfang has yet to usurp. They have swapped world #1 and #2 spots frequently and met in more finals than most of us care to record on video, but meeting in an Olympic final adds fresh meaning because in recent years Xie has stood in the way of Zhang acquiring 2 more World Championships and an All England title. To be fair, they have given badminton the tightest women's singles final in the history of the rally point system. Who could have known who would win the Japan Open 2006 edition as it marched towards sudden death in the rubber game? And then… Zhang beat Xie 30-29 on the last possible point. Their head-to-head is poised at 11-11 and there is certainly no better stage on which to break the tie.

To see the Olympic Women's Singles draw and match schedule, click HERE

Badzine's coverage of the Olympics is brought to you by YONEX

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