China: An expected contender to perform a gold sweep in 2012 London Olympics
The badminton world has started evaluating China’s prospects in the coming edition of the Olympics and the superpower is widely considered to perform a gold sweep in the 2012 London Games.
In previous edition of Olympics staged in Beijing, China finished its marathon with three gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Their shuttlers are in high spirits to show elevated performance in country’s sixth appearance of Olympics in Wembley Arena
this year.
In Men’s Singles event, China will be banking on World Number two Lin Dan and Number three Chen Long for an Olympic medal while its third seat depends on Chen Jin’s qualification. He is striving hard to unseat World Number four Peter Hoeg Gade before May
3 rankings.
According to Badminton World Federation (BWF) rules, a country will have three seats in Singles category if all of their shuttlers fall in the top four players of the world.
Now if World Number five Chen Jin climbs up to one rung he will be third Chinese campaigner which will raise country’s chances of glory in Men’s Singles category.
At the moment, defending Champion Lin Dan is hot favourite for the crown as he has proved his supremacy over big guns like World Number one Lee Chong Wei and the veteran Dane Peter Gade.
Meanwhile, the Women’s Singles event is also likely to be dominated by the Chinese ladies as other challengers will have to surpass the famous “Wang” gang, which includes Wang Yihan, Wang Xin and Wang Shixian, to land at the podium.
The biggest threat to their supremacy will be Saina Nehwal who stands fifth in world rankings but it looks like a huge trial for the Indian lady to stand on her toes in presence of heavy-weight Chinese squad.
Similarly, the Women’s Doubles experts also stand fair chance to wear gold medal around their necks. The top female duo of world Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang and their compatriots Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei will be shouldering the responsibility to escort the country
to glory.
However, they will have to face great opposition by Japan, Korea and Indonesia whose female shuttlers have proved their mettle in recent past.
In Mixed Doubles category, China is relying on its World Number one pair Zhao Nan-Zhao Yunlei and Number two couple Xu Chen-Ma Jin to bring the honour back home.
However, the badminton pundits are of the view that Indonesian couple Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir can also sweep the board along with the Danish campaigners. Meanwhile, the experts also believe that the British pair of Chris Adcock-Imogen Bankier will
also try to bag the most prestigious title by relishing the home ground advantage.
The only category in which critics are playing down China’s chances of an Olympic medal is Men’s Doubles event where the country will be counting on Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and Chai Biao-Guo Zhendong.
Though the partnership of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng is ranked world’s best partnership but the Men’s Doubles experts could not lift the burden of expectations in their last Olympic appearance.
This year they will be looking for an avenging victory from defending Champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan. However, they must be more concerned about the other top couples as the Indonesians do not enjoy the same class now.
Korea, Japan, Denmark and Indonesia are the prominent stake holders in Men’s Doubles event and Chinese will have to put some extra effort if they want to rise to the occasion.
China, with holding four top positions out of five categories in badminton world rankings, undoubtedly stands fair chance to perform a gold sweep. However, standing on top in the world rankings does not mean an Olympic medal automatically so the Chinese
shuttlers will have to be at their best to make the most of the 2012 London Olympics.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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