After Cup Double, China set for Olympic harvest
By Peh Shing Huei (Straits Times)
Updated: 2004-05-18 09:10

Thirty minutes after winning the Thomas and Uber Cup Double for the first time in 14 years, China sent out a warning to the rest of the world: The trophies will be in Beijing for a while.

China's mighty badminton squad have sent out an ominous warning to their Olympic rivals after clinching a rare Thomas and Uber Cup double. Here the Chinese team raise the Thomas trophy after beating Denmark 3-1. [AFP]

More ominously for their opponents, while the Chinese may not make a clean sweep of the Olympic badminton gold medals, they will take most of them.

The jubilant Chinese head coach Li Yongbo, a player in the last Double-winning squad of 1990, was full of praise for his youngsters, who defeated Denmark 3-1 to clinch the Thomas Cup early yesterday morning.

'In 1986 here in Jakarta, we started a run that brought us three consecutive Thomas-Uber Doubles,' he said. 'These current boys, and also the girls, will be even better.'

No one doubts that.

As Denmark's head coach Steen Pedersen told Timesport: 'They certainly look very strong now.' After struggling for years with their doubles players, China seem to have solved the problem with world No 2 Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and No 6 Sang Yang-Zheng Bo.

Throw in their traditional dominance of the singles, and they have developed a well-balanced side that Denmark, Indonesia and Malaysia will find hard to match in the next few years.

More worrying for their opponents, the Chinese shuttlers are young. World No 1 Lin Dan is only 20, while Denmark's youngest is Peter Gade-Christensen, 26.

So while the Chinese can rely on Lin, Bao Chunlai (21), Cai (24) and Fu (20) for many years to come, their opponents will need time to rebuild their ageing squads.

The Malaysians are already looking to groom juniors, as will the Indonesians and Danes. Said Pedersen: 'There'll be some new players but it takes a long time to develop a team.'

It will take even longer for other women's teams to challenge the Chinese girls.

Since entering the Uber Cup in 1984, China have won nine of the 11 tournaments, including their fourth in a row after beating South Korea 3-1 in the final.

The Koreans did not even entertain any thoughts of defeating the Chinese. As Korean team manager Kim Jung Soo said: 'Getting into the final is already a miracle.'

China are expected to grab both the Olympic women's singles and doubles golds. But a clean sweep from the Chinese camp in Athens is not likely.

South Korean mixed doubles pair Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min are almost unbeatable - they have not lost since April last year, winning 14 consecutive titles.

And Kim's men's doubles partnership with Ha Tae Kwon, who withdrew from the Thomas Cup because of an injury, will give Cai-Fu a stern test at the Olympics. Then there are Danish world No 1s and world champions Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen.

So realistically, the Chinese can hope to get only three golds, with possibly the men's singles alongside the pair of women's golds.

Said Li: 'After every event, we evaluate it, quickly forget about it and look at the next tournament.

'Now, everything will be devoted to the Olympics.'

The world has been warned.

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