OLYMPICS DAY 4 : Everybody's Games

The Olympic Games advocates that everyone has a fair chance at glory and that no one nation will dominate the show. Apparent on the 4th day of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, were unsung heroes and unexpected victims belonging to different parts of the world. The men's doubles competition in Beijing marks the first time in Olympic badminton history that a quarter-final round will see 8 different national colours.

By Jan Lin, reporting live from Beijing (BIMC). Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

The grandeur of the Olympic Games can turn an ordinary player into a hero (or heroine) as much as it can cripple the favourites. The pre-Games favourites from host China and fellow badminton powerhouses Indonesia and Demark have all suffered sucker punches in Beijing and the latest to join the list of casualties are Korea's promising men's doubles pair of Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae (pictured below) and Malaysia's veteran pair of Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook.

Jung/Lee was the hot favourite for the Olympic title after bagging 2 Super Series titles as well as the Asian Championship this year. It is heartbreaking to be sent packing so early at their first Olympic outing, especially when the duo might now be (temporarily) separated as the 26-year-old Jung is believed to be facing conscription into the army for 2 years. An Olympic medal could have altered Jung's fate, but that is not to be.

Blame it on the unlucky draw, perhaps. The last time Jung/Lee tasted defeated was at the 2008 Thomas Cup quarterfinal in Jakarta in May by Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen, whom they also drew as their first round opponents in Beijing.

Back in May, the Danish veterans defeated the Koreans 18-21, 21-10, 19-21 but this morning, Paaske/Rasmussen took only 2 games of 21-16, 21-19 to snatch the elusive quarter-final ticket. Paaske/Rasmussen's compatriots Jens Eriksen/Martin Lundgaard Hansen were, however, outplayed by local eyecandies Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng in humbling straight game scores of 21-12, 21-11.

This round of 16 tie was a repeat of the 2004 Athens Games' quarter-final match, where the young pairing of Cai/Fu was defeated by the experienced Danes in 3 games of 3-15, 15-11, 15-8. Eriksen/Lundgaard eventually missed out on an Olympic medal in Athens when they lost to Indonesia's Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian in the bronze medal play-off.

Indonesia and Korea are currently leveled on the number of Olympic men's doubles titles. Korea bagged the title in 1992 and 2004, while Indonesia holds the 1996 and 2000 crowns. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, both nations are represented by two men's doubles pairs and incidentally both nations have already lost half of their army in the first round.

Though Indonesia's world number 1 pair of Hendra Setiawan/Markis Kido survived a round of Chinese bullets from local lads Guo Zhendong/Xie Zhongbo and has successfully progressed to the quarter-finals after an hour of battle, it is hardly surprising that Alvent Yulianto Chandra/Luluk Hadiyanto (pictured left) crumbled at the hands of a Korean man in the round of 16.

Half of the 1992 Olympic men's doubles champion pair, Park Joo Bong, was appointed the head coach of the Japanese national team after the 2004 Athens Games and has been the mastermind behind Japan's recent success in the men's doubles event. Japan is represented by 2 men's doubles pairs at the 2008 Olympic Games, which is no doubt a breakthrough for Japanese badminton.

Park's Japanese charges of Keita Masuda/Tadashi Ohtsuka (pictured right), who were defeated in the round of 16 in Athens, overcame a nailbiting first game to demolish Alvent/Luluk 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 61 minutes. Masuda/Ohtsuka's fellow countrymen Shintaro Ikeda/Shuichi Sakamoto, however, ran out of luck against Malaysia's renowned stars Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong (pictured top).

The Japanese have been Koo/Tan's greatest curse since the Malaysians tasted a bitter defeat at the hands of Ikeda/Sakamoto at the World Championships in Kuala Lumpur exactly a year ago. Revenge was clearly in the cards and was perfectly executed as the unseeded Malaysian duo mercilessly brought down the Japanese 21-12, 21-16 in 34 minutes. By a strange twist of fate, Koo/Tan's seniors Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook, who are seeded 4th at the Games, have decided to mimic the Korean tragedy.

After much delay, as the earlier evening matches had run overtime, the fight between Lee/Choong and Korea's unseeded pair of Lee Jae Jin/Hwang Ji Man for the final men's doubles quarter-final ticket proved to be a match worth waiting for. Despite the "tiebreaker match" status, Lee/Choong were, in fact, fortunate to have stolen the first game, as the Koreans had been 19-14 ahead and held game point first before losing composure to bequeath the opener to the Malaysians by the score of 20-22.

The game in hand still failed to spur the Malaysian pair on tonight, though, as they surrendered meekly 13-21 in the second before handing over the third game at a consolation score of 21-16. Koreans have been giving Lee/Choong ever-worsening Olympic nightmares as the Malaysian pair had already been beaten by eventual silver medallists Lee/Yoo in the semi-finals in 2000 and the quarter-finals in 2004 before finally bowing to Lee/Hwang in tonight's round of 16.

The Koreans, meanwhile, will join Americans Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong and Polish menaces, Michal Logosz and Robert Mateusiak, to form the first ever united nations Olympic quarter-finals on Wednesday.

For all Day 4 results, click HERE

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