DENMARK came close to shifting the balance of power in world badminton when they lost to China in the final of the Thomas Cup championship. But in the end, China did the double, a feat last achieved by Indonesia 10 years ago, when they won the Uber Cup and Thomas Cup championships, beating South Korea (3-1) and Denmark (3-1) respectively. While there will be numerous reviews and post-mortems, players and coaches were quick to point out that the Thomas Cup is history, the next target is Athens. In fact, Athens was never far away from their thoughts throughout the tournament. And they all shared one sentiment, including China’s head coach Li Yongbo, the Olympic Games provides a different scenario, and one with different pressures, expectations and more importantly, the possibility of different outcomes. In short, the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup results are not an indication of the final outcome in Athens. But it is the Chinese players that everyone wants to beat or is expected to beat if they want to win gold medals. While China dominated and deserve full credit for the way they brushed aside all opposition, the Olympics could have a different ending. "The Olympic Games is an individual event and there are so many players from different nations capable of winning the titles," said Yongbo. "The pressure is also different and although our target is to win as many gold medals as possible, we have to bear in mind the presence of players from Denmark, Indonesia and Malaysia as well. "We prepared well for the Thomas Cup, and now we have to prepare well for the Olympics as well." Four years ago in Sydney, China swept four of the five titles, the men’s doubles the only title to elude them. The question is, can they repeat or better the performance come August? That they will start as favourites in many of the events cannot be denied, but on a closer look, China will not be as successful as in 2000. The mixed doubles will be the first to go with Koreans Kim Dong Moon-Ra Kyung Min, unbeaten in more than a year, the early favourites. China won the last Games with Zhang Jun-Gao Ling but they don’t have any pair that can challenge Dong Moon-Kyung Min. And Korea may once again prove to be China’s Achilles heel in the women’s doubles with Kyung Min-Lee Kyung Won capable of scoring an upset over the fancied Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen and Gao Ling-Huang Sui. The Koreans have already indicated their seriousness in preparing for the Olympics and Kyung Min and men’s doubles player Ha Tae Kwan’s absence from the Thomas Cup is ample testimony of their single minded approach. But the women’s singles is the only event that looks certain to be China’s for the taking with Gong Ruina, Zhang Ning and Zhou Mi capable of making it an all-Chinese final. In the men’s doubles, it is an open contest with several pairs in the running for the gold medal. Cai Yun-Haifeng (China), Tae Kwan-Dong Moon (Korea), Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen, Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard (both Denmark), Luluk Hadiyanto-Alven Yulianto, Flandy Limpele-Eng Hian (both Indonesia) and Malaysia’s very own Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah all have an even chance of bagging the gold. And in the men’s singles, 21-year-old Lin Dan is the heavy favourite for the title. In the Thomas Cup, no player looked capable of beating him, but Danish coach Steen Pedersen refused to share the sentiment: "He is very good but I believe he is suspect when under pressure," said Pedersen. "To date, he has not been pushed all the way, and I believe the player who can do that, will be able to rattle him." The only thing is, no player has been able to do that as well. So where does this leave Malaysian players in Athens? In most conversations, Malaysian players have been included as an after thought. But that is the harsh truth. Malaysian players have the potential, but sadly, the only consistent thing about their game is their inconsistency. China are, at this point in time, the benchmark, but even they will find it hard to repeat their Sydney 2000 feat. NST
