Gopi win leaves Chinese in daze

Gopi win leaves Chinese in daze
Press Trust of India

Beijing, March 12: The Chinese media today applauded Indian ace shuttler Pulella Gopichand’s triumph over China’s Chen Hong in the All England Badminton final and hailed it as “historic.”

Chinese official news agency Xinhua noted that Gopichand’s1 5-12, 15-6 victory over world No. 12 Hong “shattered China’s hopes to repeat their historic four-title feat at Birmingham in 1997.”

The 27-year-old Gopichand’s victory gained greater emphasis due to the fact that he beat world No. 1 Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark and Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng of China en route to the final, the report noted.

Xinhua quoted Chen’s coach, Tang Xianhu as saying the Chinese lost due to his “mental weakness” and that he should learn from the defeat.

“He is always weak mentally in important matches,” Tang said referring to the 15-12, 15-6 result.

“Chen must overcome this habitual weak point if he wants to become a real world champion.”

Chen, 22, told Xinhua that the 115-minute semi-final on Saturday against Malaysia’s Muhammad Roslin Hashim had taken a toll on him.

“I had not recovered from Saturday’s semi-final match,” Chen said. “My legs still hurt. But I had some chance to win the first set when leading 12-10, but I made too many errors.”

However, China, the badminton powerhouse, seemed reasonably satisfied with the performance of its youngsters who emerged the biggest winners taking titles in the women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles events.

With four top players retired, China had fielded a team which mixed experience with youth in the championships, the first major tournament they have competed since returning from Sydney Olympic Games with a record four gold medals.

Ge Fei and Gujun, the most decorated shuttler pair in the past decade, retired after winning their second Olympic women’s doubles gold medal in Sydney.

World champions Ye Zhaoying and Sun Jun followed suit after injuries deprived them of gold medals in Sydney.