Mixed day for China in Asian Games badminton team finals
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HANGZHOU – After being whitewashed in the women’s team final, defending champions China staged a comeback at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Sunday, bouncing back from 2-0 down to claim the badminton men’s team gold with a 3-2 victory over Thomas Cup champions India.
South Korea’s women, the reigning Uber Cup champions, raced onto the court and some players were in tears after steamrollering hosts China 3-0 to win the Asian Games women’s team gold on Sunday for the first time in nearly 30 years.
World No. 1 An Se-young got the party started in Hangzhou in rampant fashion when she defeated Olympic champion Chen Yufei 21-12, 21-13 in double-quick time.
“I think maybe Chen was nervous,” said world champion An. “It’s the result of analysing my opponent and training hard, but it was not an easy match to win.”
Next, Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na beat Jia Yifan and Chen Qingchen 21-18, 21-14 in the doubles, before Kim Ga-eun sealed the deal with a hard-fought 23-21, 21-17 victory over He Bingjiao.
That sparked wild celebrations from the Korean players on the sidelines, who sprinted onto the court. At least two were in tears.
South Korea’s coach Kim Hak-kyun called the gold “precious” and said they were already targeting more success at next summer’s Paris Olympics.
Kim Ga-eun’s victory over He Bingjiao (on screen) sparked wild celebrations from the South Korean players on the sidelines.
“This is thanks to the determination, mindset, mentality and unity of our players,” he said.
“They are at their peak, but we are still moving forward and our target is beyond Asia and looking at the Olympics.”
China’s coach Xia Xuanze said the home team were tired and would need to quickly pick themselves up, with singles and doubles golds still up for grabs this week.
“Because we are playing at home, in an event that happens only every four years, of course we face a lot of pressure,” he said.
“But there is also the incentive of playing at home. It was not about pressure today, but at key moments, we couldn’t grasp the opportunities. Because we didn’t win gold today, our athletes’ mindset will be affected for sure.”
The men’s final proved to be a much closer affair.
Eighth-ranked Li Shifeng saved China from the brink of a defeat by crushing world No. 21 Kidambi Srikanth in straight games after India had taken a 2-0 lead. The 23-year-old took an intense first game 24-22, and then clinched his 21-9 second-game win in quick succession.
“Pressure? I’m not thinking about it that much. I’m just thinking about playing point by point,” Li said. “The only thing I can do is to play full to my energy.”
Li’s victory cleared away the shadow brought about by the losses of world No. 6 Shi Yuqi and second-ranked Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang. Shi, China’s first-choice men’s singles player at two consecutive Asiads, lost to world No. 14 Lakshya Sen 22-20, 14-21, 21-18, and young pair Liang and Wang were beaten by third-ranked Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 21-15, 21-18.
To the delight of the home crowd, Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi defeated Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek Krishna Prasad 21-6, 21-15 to restore parity at 2-2 for China. Weng Hongyang then thumped Mithun Manjunath in the deciding match 21-12, 21-4 to secure the host nation’s victory on China’s National Day. AFP, XINHUA, REUTERS
