Chinese Badminton Gears up for World Championships

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 07, 2003

Chinese Badminton Gears up for World Championships

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From a disappointing performance at the Sudirman Cup to an overwhelming success at the Japan Open, the Chinese badminton team has been gearing up for the world championships slated in May in Britain, said head coach Li Yongbo Monday in Beijing.

"The Worlds will become a real tough test for the Chinese shuttlers despite their great successes in the Japan Open," said coach Li, acknowledging that the Chinese did regain their confidence from the Japan Open as they reaped three golds and four silvers against the best in the world.

In Eindhover, the Netherlands, the Chinese suffered a 3-1 defeat last month against the South Koreans in the final of the Sudirman Cup mixed team championships.

However, they swiftly rebounded from the just-concluded Japan Open where the Koreans failed to make the finals of any event, as the Chinese made a clean semifinal sweep against three Korean duosin their strongholds of women's doubles and mixed doubles.

Nevertheless, coach Li refrained from becoming overjoy and remained clam as he reiterated that many an athlete from all delegations had paid less attention to the Japan Open, comparing to the world championships and the Olympics.

"For the Japan Open, we intended to get more knowledge of our rivals, to accumulate experiences for our players and to prepare for the coming world championships and the Olympics next year," Li explained.

"Our players remain to be the best as they made five finals and even swept the top two in the men's singles and women's doubles," said Li, "However, the victories in the Japan Open cann't justify any easy triumph in the coming meets for our players."

Despite their excellent overall performances, the Chinese shuttlers still have more to be addressed as they even missed the women's singles title at the Japan Open, a stronghold for the Chinese team, he added.

On the other hand, the Chinese did make a breakthrough at the Japan Open as they made the finals of the men's doubles for the first time.

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