'Super Dan' leads China's domination in World championship

Amit Kumar Das
Hyderabad, Aug 15 (PTI) Defending champion Lin Dan reached the finals after outlasting Sony Dwi Kuncoro in a thrilling three-game match as China's domination continued in the World Badminton championship at the Gachobowli stadium here today.
The World number five prevailed 21-14 13-21 21-15 over the sixth seed Indonesian in an edge-of-the-seat match that last more than an hour.
It will be an all chinese final in the men's and women's singles as World number two Chen Jin notched up an easy 21-16 21-6 victory over World number four Taufik Hidayat in a 39 minutes match.
In the women's singles too, China's Lu Lan beat compatriot Wang Lin to set up a summit clash with teammate Xingfang Xie tomorrow.
Lan, a bronze medalist at the World Championships in Kuala Lumpur, outgunned Wang 21-18 21-19 in 47 minutes, while 2005 and 2006 World champion Xingfang took just 33 minutes to dispatch Pi of France 21-18 21-8 in the semifinals today.
In a match that saw fortunes fluctuate too often, Sony made a remarkable comeback after a game down and snatched the second game but still couldn't make it to the finals as Lin had the last laugh.
"Sony had a good tournament. He played very patiently yesterday and today also he kept his patience and played with maturity. He did not allow me to finish off the game quickly," said Lin, who had defeated Sony in the finals of 2007 World championship.
"I am very relaxed after the Olympics and I am not thinking about winning or losing. It doesn't matter who wins tomorrow because we are both Chinese. The thing that matters most is that our country is assured of a gold, which shows the dominance of China in badminton," he added.
"I tried to slow the game down but he was quick with his strokes. He is special. You can slow down and have patience but you will still need that killer stroke to beat him," Sony said.
"My energy level was down today after playing the last few matches but I was not afraid," he added.
In the other match, fourth seed Taufik proved no match against second ranked Chen as the Chinese retrieved all his smashes and flicked in hard.
In the first game, Taufik had opened up a 4-0 lead but Chen soon drew parity and scrapped past him and although the Indonesian clawed back at 14-all, the Chinese moved ahead and pocketed the game comfortably.
Charged up by the first game win, Chen didn't give any chance to his rival and after taking a 8-0 lead went for the kill straight away as Taufik's crumbled under pressure.
"I didn't know how to play against him," Taufik said.
"I tried whatever I could. I smashes, played net dribbles but he was too good," he added.
"But he is 23 and I am 28. He is fitter and younger. If I was young like him, I would have beaten him surely," he quipped.
Chen said he didn't allow Taufik to play freely and kept him away from the nets.
"I didn't give him chance to play at the nets and he was a little slow today, may be because of the tougher matches that he played in the tournament so far but I respect him a lot," he said.
The women's doubles final will also be an all Chinese affair after eighth seed Chinese pair of Yawen Zhang and Tingting Zhao beat fifth seed teammates Jing Du and Yang YU 24-22 18-21 21-8 in a 68 minutes match to face off with compatriots second seed Shu Cheng and Yunlei Zhao.
Cheng-Zhao beat sixth seeded combo of Jin Ma and Xiaoli Wang 21-16 21-12 in a 37-minute semifinal.
However, in the mixed doubles, Seventh seed Dane mixed doubles pair of Thomas Laybourne and Kamilla Rytter Juhl scripted history reaching their first world championship final today beating top seed Korean Yong Dae Lee and Hyo Jung Lee 18-21 21-9 21-18 in an hour match.
But their compatriots sixth seeded combo of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen could not emulate them and fell 18-21 21-14 18-21 to second seed Indonesian pair of Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir in 59 minutes.
After the match, Kamilla said she can't believe that they are in the finals and credited the win to the attacking game that they played all through out.
"I can't believe it, I am just so happy," Kamilla said. "I was feeling dizzy today but may be it worked as I was more calm."
"This is one of the biggest win. We beat the chinese yesterday and today the Korean. We kept on attacking and won the long rallies," she added.
Her partner Thomas said the fact that they have nothing to prove actually helped them.
"We were solid and made fewer mistakes. We knew they were the favourite and so didn't have any pressure," he said.
In the men's doubles, fifth seed Chinese Yun Cai and Haifeng FU saw off eighth seed Malaysian pair of Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif and and Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari 18-21 24-22 21-15 in just under 60 minutes.
The Chinese pair will face off with fourth seed Korean combo of Jae Sung JUNG and Yong Dae Lee, who beat second seed Malaysian pair of Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan 16-21 21-14 22-20 in a see-saw battle of 53 minutes. PTI ATK