HK medal dreams blown away at World Championships
Hong Kong's dream of a first ever medal at the World Championships was gone with the wind yesterday as women's singles hope Wang Chen suffered a bitterly disappointing quarter-final defeat.
Wang, the fourth seed and former world number one, had been presented with a gilt-edged opportunity to secure a semi-final berth and with it a guaranteed bronze medal after being drawn against the unseeded Cheng Shaoi-chieh of Taiwan. But Wang found the expectation of victory too great a burden and never looked comfortable as she crashed to a 11-9, 5-11, 11-6 defeat at the Arrowhead Pond.
Though a swirling wind caused by air conditioning inside the arena undoubtedly affected Wang's game plan, questions will be raised about her temperament.
The 29-year-old mainland born player's shoulders sagged whenever points or decisions went against her and once Cheng opened up an 8-5 lead in the decisive game, the outcome was never in doubt.
Wang said afterwards she had struggled to work out the wind patterns blowing across the court, and said her easy victories in the early rounds when she dropped only two points had not been the best preparation.
'I wasn't ready for a match like that. Cheng played really well and put me under pressure with her attack,' said Wang. 'The wind made it very hard. I tried to keep her at the back of the court but I kept over-hitting and going out.'
Disconsolate Hong Kong coach Chan Chi-choi could not hide his disappointment at seeing a bronze medal go begging. 'It's very, very disappointing because we had a good chance of winning a medal,' Chan told the Sunday Post.
Chan acknowledged that the wind had played a part but emphasised that Wang's concentration had let her down. 'She lost concentration at important times and that gave Cheng the chance to win two or three points in a row,' Chan. 'The wind made it difficult but in big competitions the conditions can often be like that.'
Cheng, the reigning world junior champion, will now play China's second seeded Xie Xingfang in the last four. Xie eased into the semi-finals by brushing aside England's Tracey Hallam 11-3, 11-1. In the other semi-final top seed Zhang Ning will meet Xu Huaiwen of Germany after an 11-4, 11-6 quarter-final win over Japanese 12th seed Kaori Mori.
China are bidding for an unprecedented clean sweep of the titles in California but not everything went their way yesterday, with men's singles players Bao Chunlai and Chen Hong, seeded four and seven respectively, biting the dust.
The talented Bao went down 15-5, 15-7 to Malaysia's Lee Wei Chong after an error-strewn display while Chen was beaten 15-13, 15-4 by Danish world number three Peter Gade.
The mainland's top seed Lin Dan also struggled, coming from a game down to subdue South Korea's Lee Hyun-Il 5-15, 15-7, 15-8. Lin will now face Gade in the pick of the men's semi-finals. Though he has had Gade's measure in past encounters, leading the head-to-heads 6-1, Lin is wary of the threat posed by the resurgent Dane.
'It's true I've beaten him in most of our matches but every match is different and I can't take anything for granted,' Lin said. 'I will have to play very well to beat him.'
China coach Li Yongbo said, meanwhile, that the stiff breezes at the competition venue had levelled the playing field. 'What is happening is that the top players are going for the more difficult shots on the lines and they are making more mistakes because of the wind,' Li said. 'That is why the gap between the top players and the rest is not so big.'
Evidence to back up Li's theory came in the shape of defeat for mixed doubles duo Gao Ling and Zhang Jun, Olympic champions in 2000 and 2004. Second seeds Gao and Zhang were beaten 10-15, 15-7, 15-11 by Thailand's Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam.
