Cai/Fu victory at China Open. Li Yongbo talks of Olympic gold Information Times – Wang Wei 15:2, 15:5, the future of China men’s doubles Cai/Fu easily beating an Indonesia pair on the 3rd round, yesterday they defeated Candra/Halim by a big margin to advance to the semi-finals. After watching the good performance by Cai/Fu, Li Yongbo for the first time mentions that China is aiming for a men’s doubles gold in the Olympics. Cai/Fu furious offense The opponents of Cai/Fu yesterday is the famous pairing of Candra/Halim, from previous head-to-head record are split. The match was so surprisingly fast paced, Cai / Fu using fast shot and deceptive placement completely controlled their opponents, the formation and attack were also very decisive. As a result, Candra/Halim were definitely at a disadvantage at the net, they also made more error. The result of the match was 15:2 / 15:5. Fu said after the match, “we were very successful at the first three shots, we kept on attacking Halim’s weakness, this tactic worked very well for us.” Cai added, “we didn’t have 100percent confidence, to my surprise the match ended so quickly, I already prepared two bananas in case the match goes on for much longer!” Li looking for Olympic Gold Men’s double has always been China’s weakness, since Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi, there has been no top Chinese MD pairs. However, Cai/Yu improved very fast this year, this gives head coach Li a glimpse of hope. Li mentioned the goal for Olympics, “during the Thomas Cup, our MD pair lost to everybody, however, after a fair amount of time for adjustments, the younger players have improved tremendously, now we can declare our goal for the 2004 Olympics Gold!” Fu added, “our next goal is the Olympics.” Malaysian coach Yap Kim Hock concurred, “Cai/Fu has the ability to be the world champions.”
Definitely, look at what happened today. I really pity the two boys, I hope Li does not destroy them. They are such a pleasure to watch when they are not under pressure.
to be fair, Cai/Fu did play really well. just that JR/Lars are sharper and more experienced, Cai/Fu rely on their youth and speed. but they seemed to have ran out of gas at the 3rd game.
Yeah. Let's hope Li will not yell at them the same way he yelled at Wei Yilli and Zhang Jiewan when they were upsetted by a weaker Korean Team in the last Uber Cup. I remembered reading on this forum that after Li yelled at them, one (I think it was Wei) cried on the spot, while the other cried after she got home. And it was a game doesn't affect the standing anyways (I think had they won, China would won 5-0. Otherwise, Chian would win 4-1)
