And finally... (August 25, 2007)
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The World Badminton Championship took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the course of last week. Players from 55 countries were represented at the games.
The Chinese were expected to dominate in all forms of the game, and their dominance was proven.
Lin Dan didn't drop a game in the entire competition in the Men's Singles. He beat Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-11 22-20 in the Final, and take the World Championship for the second time in Singles.
China again dominated the Women's Singles. Three of them made the Semi Finals, and Number 5 seed Zhu Lin beat Number 6 seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in the Final, by a score of 21-8 21-12. A comprehensive victory for the 23 year old.
The Men's Doubles saw a shock, as the Chinese Number 1 seeds lost early to a Malaysian pairing 15-21 21-18 21-19. The Malaysians then lost in the Semi Finals, with the second set going to 28-26 - and it was an Indonesian pair that progressed. They won 21-19 21-19 to win the tournament, beating South Korean opponents. The winners were Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan.
In the Women's Doubles, the top 3 seeds were Chinese, and two of them made the Final. Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen beat Gao Ling and Huang Sui 21-16 21-19 to win the World Championship.
The Mixed Doubles saw more Chinese disappointment. The favourites to win, Zheng Bo and Gao Ling, were beaten 21-16 21-14 by Nova Windianto and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia.
The final medals table showed China were still out on top, with Indonesia and Hong Kong tied for third place. The Championships will be held again in 2009, and the Olympic tournament in 2008 in Beijing is looked forward to with anticipation by the badminton community.
