Quest for first world title by Koo-Tan ends in frustration

THE lights went out on Malaysians Koo Kien Keat’s and Tan
Boon Heong’s hopes to become the country’s first world champions in the
glowing city of Paris yesterday. The most awaited historic moment
slipped through their fingers in a fighting 21-18, 18-21, 14-21 defeat
by defending champions Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China in the men’s doubles
final that lasted 63 minutes. It was the third world title for
Cai Yun-Haifeng and their victory gave China a clean sweep of the five
titles at stake for the second time in the series after the 1987
championships in Beijing. For Malaysia, they settled for a fourth silver medal in the men’s doubles since the championships were introduced in 1977. Boon Heong admitted that they blew a golden chance to nail an elusive title for Malaysia. “It’s
not always that you get the chance to play in a final. We made the
breakthrough but there was no happy ending for us,” lamented Boon Heong. It all started so well for the world No. 1 against the Chinese, whom they have beaten in three of eight previous meetings. In
the first game, both pairs exchanged leads. They were levelled at 18-18
and the Malaysians showed great confidence and concentration to win it. “It
was great to get off to a good start but we got into problems in the
second game. We were too eager to win and attacked without any game
plan,” said Boon Heong. The Chinese regained control and was on top of their game. And each time the Malaysians inched closer, Cai Yun-Haifeng will hit home some superb winners to stay ahead. The
fans at the Pierre de Courbertin Stadium were mostly rooting for the
Malaysians to upset the Chinese in the rubber game, but the Malaysians’
defence weakened while the Chinese grew stronger in attacks and went on
to win the match. “We lost our confidence in the third game. And it was too tough to fight back after trailing by a big margin,” said Boon Heong. Kien Keat said that they would shift their concentration to the defence of the Asian Games title in Guangzhou in November. “It is sad that we could not end the long wait for a world title for the country. We were mentally prepared but it is unfortunate that we did not have a good finish,” he said. “We
were the Asian Games champions four years ago. We will go back and work
towards hitting peak form in Guangzhou. Along the way, we also hope to
do well in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games (October).” The Malaysians will return home on Wednesday.

PARIS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The powerhouse China bagged all five golds
at the Badminton World Championships on Sunday, repeating its sweeping
triumph 23 years ago.

In the first final on Sunday, Zheng Bo/Ma Jin clinched their first
world champion titles in the mixed doubles by beating teammates He
Hanbin /Yu Yang in straight sets.

The eighth seeds Zheng/Ma took control of the whole match, defeating the sixth seeds He/Yu 21-14, 21-10 after 42 minutes.

This is China's first gold in the event at the World Championships since 2001.

The men's singles shuttler Chen Jin followed Zheng/Ma's triumph to
clinch his maiden world champion title by smashing Indonesian ace Taufik
Hidayat also in straight sets.

China's Wang Lin edged out teammate Wang Xin to take the women' s singles title at the Badminton World Championships on Sunday.

The fourth seed Chen overplayed the former world and Olympic champion
Hidayat 21-13, 21-15, marching one step further to the top as he lost
to teammate Lin Dan in last year's final.

The women's singles and doubles finals were both featured fights between Chinese players.

As a result, the seventh seed Wang Lin needed 58 minutes to overcome
the third seed Wang Xin 21-11, 19-21, 21-13 before the Olympic champions
Du Jing/Yu Yang defeated the top seeds Ma Jin/ Wang Xiaoli 21-9 and
21-17.

The men's doubles final pushed the tournament to a hightlight as Cai Yun/Fu Hai Feng come frome behind to defended their titles

After winning over Malaysian's top seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon
Heong 18-21, 21-18, and 21-14, Cai/Yu ensured China to bag all of the
five golds in the competition.

The next World Championships is to be held in London in 2011.