An earlier post mentioned that there is a gap between the great men's doubles pairs now (Wijaya/Budiarto, Kim/Ha, etc.) and the rest in terms of age. I agree, these pairs are all in their late twenties and will be retiring in the next year or two, mostly after the Olympics. But it looks like the next dominant pairs could come from China. In the World Championships in Birmingham, in the semis there were two Chinese pairs and they were both impressive. Especially Cai and Fu, who took the first game against Wijaya and Budiarto. That was the most impressive display of smashing I've ever seen and I've been going to the World Championships for over 10 years. Wijaya and Budiarto do have the best defensive game in the world at the moment but they could not handle the sheer power of these two young Chinese guys. It was truly amazing to see jump smashes from the very back court being buried into the floor. It's rare at this level to see smashes from the back court win points outright. It normally takes a net kill or an error to finish a point, but these two were hitting THROUGH the Indonesians. Incredible. In the second and third games the Chinese made a lot of errors to give the game away and their inexperience really showed but the first game was fantastic. I hope there will be more great pairs from Indonesia and Korea so that matches remain exciting. I hate all Chinese finals because although they are great players, there is no interest for neutral spectators. But with the way the Chinese national team seems to just churn out these players like a factory, I think they may come to dominate men's doubles as well.
Who was the major/harder smasher of the two, between Cai and Fu. It is inevitable that China will produce more and more elite athletes (not only in baddy but also in other sports) due to an immense talent pool and a strong development system. If China could produce amazing MD as Li/Tian, then it is only a matter of time before that era is revived. But even at this point, the future does not bode too well for other badminton powerhouses if the Chinese keep dominating the world juniors like the way they are doing right now. They took 4 golds at last Junior WC with the only exception as MD. But that may change soon as well. Then when these juniors take the helm on the national team, it will be golds at the actual WC. A high time for Chinese fans, but as for the opponents...
Fu was the harder smasher- i thought, and zheng was the harder of the two with the other chinese pairing, for me it wasnt the fact that they were the faster smashers than other pairs, but simply that they were quicker to get the smashes in than other pairs, they got the resulting smashes in on their opposition, before they had chance to react. was very good to watch them blow away candra and sigit in the first match of match, then be 8-2 up in 2nd, after that i felt they tensed up and let c+s back into the game, at that point they were out of the game and cai/fu should have kiled them off quickly.
I think all the Chinese sports organizations--especially the ones that have had success in international competition--are gearing up for a super metal haul at the 2008 Olympic Games. I figure right now, they are placing special emphasis on their players in the 14-20 year-old age group. As for badminton, while there may be individual stars from other countries, no national team figures to have the depth that the Chinese will.
