China Sets to Dominate in Uber Cup

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 07, 2002

China Sets to Dominate in Uber Cup

China set to dominate the up-coming Uber Cup badminton tournament as their women's team started to cruise toward their seventh title in the biannual event.

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China set to dominate the up-coming Uber Cup badminton tournament as their women's team started to cruise toward their seventh title in the biannual event.

China would demonstrate its overwhelming advantage in the women's badminton team event even without ace shuttler Gong Zhichao, who retired early this year citing injury after capturing the singles title in China's Ninth National Games last November.

"Gong's departure will affect our team in a short term," said Li Yongbo, China's head coach. "But not in a long run, not in the Uber Cup."

The hosts have fielded a balance team bristling with four players ranked among the world top five.

Current world number one Zhang Ning will spearhead the talented Chinese line-up which also including Japan Open champion Zhou Mi and world champion Gong Ruina and Dai Yun.

China, who was drawn with South Korea, Japan and Germany in Group B, showed their power in the doubles courts by fielding the top three pairs in the world rankings.

"Gao Ling and Huang Sui may not be that overwhelming as other veterans like Olympic champions Ge Fei and Gu Jun did," said Tian Bingyi, the doubles coach who steered Ge Fei and Gu Jun to countless titles.

"But they are also very excellent and we won't have much trouble in retaining the Uber Cup," Tian added with strong confidence.

Of the few shuttlers who can be threatening, Camilla Martin of Denmark stands out as a respectable long-time rival to the host's girls.

Martin fought her way through to clinch the singles title at the All-England tournament, beating her Chinese opponent Gong Ruina to the second place.

Martin also eliminated another Chinese hopes Dai Yun in the semifinal and Zhang Ning in the quarter-finals.

Besides the Dane, Chinese should also be wary of a South Korean pair, Ra Kyung Min and Lee Kyung Won, who survived the Chinese-dominated semifinals to beat Gao Ling/Huang Sui in the final in the Japan Open in April.

"Ra and her partner are very experienced players and strong contenders," said Tian, "But we have studied the South Koreans after losing to them in Japan to ensure victory in next encounter."

And the Netherlands has reached to a new level after absorbing talents from abroad.

World number seven Yao Jie moved to the Netherlands two and half years ago to play club badminton. She fell in love with the country within a year and decided to stay there.

Former Olympic silver medalist Mia Audina, who once clinched the Uber Cup victory for Indonesia in 1994 and 1996, also plays for the Netherlands after she married a Indonesian-dutch gospel singer.

The two met in the European championships singles final with Yao beating Audina to grab the title, the first ever gold for her adopted country in a European championships. Another Dutch player Brenda Beenhakker finished in third.

The team manager Martin van Dooremalen was delighted with the result.

"Now this has become possible we could perhaps reach the semi-finals of the Uber Cup," said Dooremalen. "We have three very good singles players. And these European championships have been a very big success for us."

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