Uphill task for China to get three spots in the Men’s Singles category at 2012 Olympic Games
China’s wish to grab three spots in the Men’s Singles category is apparently in danger as Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and Denmark’s Peter Hoeg Gade are the stumbling blocks in the way of Chinese shuttlers.
In order to get three spots in Olympic Games in any category of Badminton, a country needs to have all three shuttlers in the top four positions in the world rankings.
Now, Chong Wei is World Number One followed by China’s Lin Dan and Chen Long number two and three respectively. Denmark’s Peter Gade is at number four in Men’s Singles world standings.
China’s third shuttler and World Number Five Chen Jin is the man who is the candidate for the third spot in Olympic Games.
However, Jin needs to perform well in the upcoming events including German Open, All England Open and Swiss Open to supersede Peter Gade, which seems an uphill task for him as many top shuttlers will be there in these tournaments to earn ranking points.
In the next month’s All England Open, draw is against the favour of Chinese shuttlers as all these three top players of China have been drawn in the same half which means that only one will be able to reach in the final.
Jin is expected to face Lin at the semi-final stage and if the later loses, he will slip down to number three position in the world, which will be disapproving for China.
Malaysia’s Men’s Singles national coach, Tey Seu Bock said that China will never want Lin to go down from number two position.
He said, "The current world ranking order suits China as they don't want Lin Dan to meet Chong Wei in the semis of the Olympics. This can happen if he drops to third and I don't think China want to take that risk to get Chen Jin into the Olympics."
While talking about Jin’s prospects in the upcoming tournaments, Seu Bock said that if he fails to perform in Germany, then his team-mates can be expected to go in his favour in the All England Open.
He said, "If Chen Jin doesn't do enough in Germany, he might get help from his compatriots in Birmingham as China are trying hard to have three players in the Olympics.”
At All England Open, Chong Wei will be defending champion and is set to win his third title in a row and all Chinese shuttlers will be out there to stop him from completing a hat-trick.
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