Text messaging remains the most popular service for China's mobile phone using badminton players despite new gadgets offering fancier applications such as email and gaming.

In the Chinese national badminton team less than 20 percent of mobile phone users are utilizing services other than the reliable short messaging system (SMS), or text messaging.

Lin Dan, the top-ranked shuttler in the world who also goes by nickname "Super Dan", had once spent over 10,000 yuan (1,250 US dollars) for a week on sending SMS to his girlfriend and world No. 2 Xie Xingfang.

"We don't have much time for going out since we have to train and compete," said Xie. "We express our feelings on text messages."

Bao Chunlai , currently ranked sixth in the world, has been fighting an ankle injury this season. "I had been sidelined for three months and to kill time, I sent a lot of short messages to my friends and family," he said.

Source: Xinhua