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China's Clean SweepThe People's Republic of China has produced the first clean sweep in Olympic Games badminton since the sport was introduced in 1992, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in women's doubles.Top-seeded GE Fei and GU Jun won the gold medal with a strong victory over HUANG Nanyan and YANG Wei 15-5, 15-5 in the final. GAO Ling and QIN Yiyuan took the bronze after convincingly beating RA Kyung-Min and CHUNG Jae Hee of Korea 15-10, 15-4.  RA and CHUNG led early in the second game, but several unforced errors undermined their initial efforts, allowing GE and GU to rack up their sixth victory from seven matches against RA and CHUNG since February 1999. Number seven seed JI Xinpeng gave China's its fourth medal¡ªand second gold¡ªfor the day by convincingly beating HENDRAWAN of Indonesia 15-4, 15-13 in the men's singles final. Seeded number two, HENDRAWAN struggled to regain composure after the whirlwind first game which took only 17 minutes to complete as a focused JI mixed up the assault with an intelligent blend of powerful overhead smashes, deft drives and controlled drop shots. JI, who lost to HENDRAWAN in the 2000 Thomas Cup finals teams event in Malaysia in May, dictated proceedings in the first game, but had to fight back from 4-9 then 10-13 in the second game for an inspiring victory, which excited the near-capacity crowd. Number four seed XIA Xuanze added to China's achievements, winning the men's singles bronze medal with a strong 15-13, 15-5 victory over third seed Peter Gade of Denmark in the earlier game. GADE had no answer for the athletic XIA'S reflexes and range of shots. |
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