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All England Preview by Richard Eaton |
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Lin Dan Closes In
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Unknown becomes favourite
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Another 5 for China?
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Home Hopes
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Lin
Dan closes in on an All-England record
by Richard Eaton
 Lin
Dan, the man with the high-flying smash, the unexpected
smile, and the best publicised romance in the game, is the
greatest men's singles player in the 31 years of the open
badminton era - probably.
But if Lin makes another successful title defence at the 100th
All-England Open this week at the National Indoor Arena, he will
have acquired an accolade about which there can be no doubt.
The dynamic Chinese left-hander would then have beaten the
achievement of Mr Twinkletoes Morten Frost, who won four
All-England titles with his perpetual motion during the 1980's.
That would make Lin Dan the All-England's most successful men's
singles player of the open era, which held its first tournament
in 1979 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Lin is aiming for his seventh successive All-England final and
his fifth title, achievements which no men's singles player has
managed since Rudy Hartono back in the mid seventies.
The legendary Indonesian won eight All-England men's singles
titles, and even if this proves beyond Lin he may retire after
the 2012 Olympics his achievements may be as great as
Hartono's for he is playing in an era in which standards have
been more sharply rising than ever before.
During this time China's dominance has increased so much that
last year it became the first country since 1948 to win all five
All-England titles. This year Westerners have only one seeding
spot in either singles event, and only four amidst the 40
available for the five events.
That solitary seed is Peter Gade, and his predicament
concerns him. It does so because the 33-year-old former world
number one from Denmark worries about the future of the sport
from which he will retire with in the next couple of years.
I would like to see more youngsters from other countries. It's
too narrow and we need a lot more players to come forward. It's
important to have a lot of countries in the top game," he said.
The year Gade won the All-England, in 1999, five different
countries won the titles. This year China is favourite for three
titles, unofficial favourite for a fourth, and capable of
winning all five again.
 But
no-one should say that it would be bad for the sport if Lin, who
is also the Olympic and world champion wins again. Not only is
he a sensational player, he is comfortable expressing his
personality, something which is essential if badminton is to get
its fair share of international media coverage.
Nevertheless Lin appears to have inhibitions about how much he
should do that, and last year was particularly concerned to
present an appropriate image. The fact that I have an outgoing
personality might be seen as a bad thing, that I am a rebel," he
reckoned.
"But I am anxious to show that I am quite a good person and for
people to understand me better. Most Europeans would assume he
is, and Lin's concerns may reflect cultural differences between
China and the West.
Gade believes that Lin overshadows everything. "Apart from Lin
Dan, all the other Chinese players have been beaten," he said.
"I have beaten them and Lee Chong Wei (has). In a few
years time when Lin Dan is not there, it will be possible to do
well against the Chinese.
"It's important to have a lot of different countries in the top
game. It's not frightening if Lin Dan is not there. He's
exceptional: he's one of the best players ever in the history of
badminton. Maybe the best.
"I have been beaten by him on a number of big occasions. If he
had not been there what might have happened?"
 Lin
is seeded second, largely because he has limited his competitive
outings, whilst Lee, the winner of the first two Super Series
tournaments of 2010, in Seoul and Kuala Lumpur, is top seed.
But so he was last year, when he was beaten by Lin in straight
games in the final - and the Chinese left-hander will be
unofficial favourite to turn the seedings over again.
This time however Lee's coach, Misbun Sidek, thinks the
Malaysian will be ready for the challenge, and has had him
practising regularly against left-handers.
"It's not the same as playing Lin Dan, but it will help Chong
Wei prepare," said Misbun. "More importantly, Chong Wei must
also stay focussed when playing Lin Dan. It is important to be
physically and mentally ready when playing the Chinese."
Lee Chong Wei may need to be ready earlier than that, for he may
face Sony Dwi Kuncoro, the world bronze medallist and
former Olympic silver medallist from Indonesia, in the second
round.
If Lee survives, he may have a quarter-final with Jan
Jorgensen, the young Dane whom Gade thinks could succeed him
at the highest level.
Gade himself has a likely quarter-final with Taufik Hidayat,
the former Olympic champion from Indonesia, with the winner
likely to meet Lee. The two leading Chinese, Lin and Chen Jin,
the 2008 All-England champion, should meet in the other
semi-final.
Lin also caused some smiles last year with his statement he does
not plan to marry yet in case it affects his performance before
he defends his Olympic title at the London games in 2012.
Lin was said to have been engaged to Xie Xingfang, the
former World and All-England champion, and when the couple both
won singles titles at the 2005 All-England, they attracted much
publicity by going on a big wheel together in the centre of
Birmingham city.
After his triumph at the Beijing Olympics the international
media became keen to know how his gold medal had changed things
for him and when the long-lasting romance might lead to
nuptials. Life has not changed because I chose to carry on and
play another four years, he said. Also I have already got a
girl, he said, and nothing is going to change that.
But it caused laughter when he said: If I get married now, it
might change my performance. I want to finish in 2012 and I want
to do my best. If I get married it might be a distraction.
It might also be an asset. But there is less likelihood of
seeing that entertaining debate. Xie, three times a former
All-England champion has retired. |
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THE UNKNOWN WHO BECAME THE FAVOURITE
 Now
the greatest centre of attention in the women's singles will be
Wang Yihan,
the woman who sensationally beat Xie in the semi-finals and went
on to dethrone the champion Tine Rasmussen. She was only
21, unseeded and little known. Now she holds three more Super
Series titles and is the top seed.
Wang admitted after her
breakthrough win that she was so unused to winning big titles
that she had had to think about how to behave if she won. I did
it secretly, she said. I imagined what I would do and what
expression I would have!"
This time Wang will be a much more seasoned and formidable
proposition, and so may not worry about a second round against
Nicole Grether, the capable German. Her probable
quarter-final is against Zhou Mi, the Olympic bronze
medallist of six years ago, who was still good enough to have
won a Super Series title in Singapore at last June.
Zhou, a former world number one, is remarkable in that she
appeared to have retired in 2005, playing no tournaments the
following year. But she was acquiring Hong Kong residence, and
after returning to the world circuit in 2007, Zhou went on to
regain the top ranking the following year.
 At
31 she could still be a threat, and so might two other Chinese
players in the top half Jiang Yanjiao, the third seed
who was within one good blow of reaching the final last year,
and Wang Xin, who started the year by winning the
Malaysian Super Series in Kuala Lumpur.
It is an event thoroughly dominated by China. Wang Lin,
the winner of the French Super Series title, is seeded to reach
the final from the bottom half, but she could have a
quarter-final with Lu Lan, the world champion.
Wang could also find it difficult to get that far. She has a
first round with Eriko Hirose, the top 20 Japanese
player, and a second round with Tine Rasmussen who so nearly won
the All-England a second time last year, even though she was not
fully fit.
Despite a persistent heel injury, Rasmussen was still good
enough to win the Denmark Super Series in October, but because
she has slipped to world number ten, she is unseeded. Especially
in European conditions, that masks the threat she may pose. |
WILL CHINA HAVE ANOTHER
HIGH FIVE?
Few would deny that Chinese players have given immense pleasure
and have helped raise standards year on year. But when one
nation wins so much 27 of the 40 titles since Beijing won the
vote to host the Olympics, it is reasonable to ask who might
challenge them.
Another clean sweep is certainly possible. China has the top
three seeds in the women's doubles, an event it has won 12 times
in the last 14 years. And in the mixed doubles, China has the
defending champions, He Hanbin and Yu Yang, seeded
fourth, and the favourites, Zheng Bo, twice a former
All-England winner, and Ma Lin.
 Chinese
players are also favourites to win the women's doubles, through
Du Jing and Yu Yang, the Olympic champions, and the mixed
doubles, through Zheng Bo and Ma Lin, ranked world number
one.
But there are at least four pairs capable of taking the men's
doubles title held by Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, whose fifth
seeding does not reflect the acrobatic triumphs of which they
are capable when they want the biggest titles, as their success
in last year's world championships suggests.
The offical favourites are Koo Kean Keat and Tan Boon Keong,
the Asian Games champions from Malaysia, with Jung Jae Sung
and Lee Yong Dae, the 2008 All-England champions from Korea,
seeded to reach the final.
Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, the Indonesians who beat
Koo and Tan en route to the Olympic title in Beijing, are in
third place, with Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, the
dangerously rising Danes, fourth.
But there are all sorts of great matches possible early on. Koo
and Tan have a first round with Lars Paaske and Jonas
Rasmussen, the 2003 world champions from Denmark, while
Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach, the 2005 world champions, lurk
in the bottom quarter where they could ambush the Koreans.
The men's doubles event has often been the highlight of finals
day. It may also offer highlights from the beginning. |
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HOME HOPES
Home hopes reflect the fact that the elite level game here is
going through a phase of transition. It is the first time in 12
years that there are no British players seeded, which is partly
due to the fact that two world class English pairs have ended in
the past 18 months.
Nathan Robertson lost his fellow former All-England
champion Gail Emms after the Beijing Olympics; this year
Anthony Clark lost Donna Kellogg, his fellow former
All-England finalist. They take some replacing, and the nearest
thing to that is Robertson and Clark pairing up in the men's
doubles and forming a partnership good enough to bring down the
Olympic champions, Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, in the
Singapore Super Series.
 But
Robertson, who has so often suffered harsh All-England draws,
has again. He and Clark face the 2005 world champions Tony
Gunawan and Howard Bach in the men's doubles first round;
Robertson and Jenny Wallwork, now a steadily improving
pair, may need to improve some more, for they have a likely
second round in the mixed doubles against Thomas Laybourn and
Kamilla Rytter Juhl, the world champions from Denmark.
One can only imagine what Robertson might have said when he saw
these draws. He and Clark are certainly capable of surviving
though, in which case they might play Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen,
the seventh seeded Chinese pair.
Robertson and Wallwork will first hope to get past their opener
against Valery Arashchenkov and Elena Prus of Ukraine,
especially as Wallwork is now a double national champion, and
beginning to look more confident, as well as better at moving
from defence into attack and back again.
 The
highest ranked English mixed pair though is Chris Adcock and
Gabby White, and they have to start the greatest
international occasion of their careers so far with a domestic
tussle against Robert Blair - Adcock's men's doubles
partner - and Imogen Bankier of Scotland.
Blair and Bankier, seeded last year but fallen outside the top
70 after a year of fitness problems, will want to boost their
hopes of a sharp rise in the year before Olympic qualifying
begins. But Adcock and White have 2012 hopes too, and the
contest may be fierce.
About an hour and a half after they have fought that battle,
Blair and Adcock will be out there battling again this time on
the same side of the net. They play Fang Chieh Min and
Lee Sheng Mu of Taipei, and the reward for surviving that would
probably be an encounter with Boe and Mogensen, the Danes who
are among the front runners for the men's doubles title.
It will be a busy day for Wallwork and White too, for they will
begin the women's doubles hoping to take inspiration from last
year's fine achievement when they reached the quarter-finals.
They start against what is nominally the fifth best Korean pair,
Jang Ye Na and Yoo Hyung Young, ranked down at 37 in the world
though no Korean pairs in women's doubles are ever easy.
Then they could play Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsana, whose
joyous celebration antics were one of the highlights of the
Beijing Olympics, and who are five places higher than the
English pair, just inside the top 20. If they get to it, that
would be a good test.
Bankier and her fellow Scot Emma Mason meanwhile have a
difficult start against the leading Thai pair, Savitree Amitapei
and Vacharaporn Munkit, who are pushing well into the top 20,
and will need to be at their best from the first rally.
Altogether there will be five home hopes in the mixed doubles,
the other two being new and rising pairs who will hope to
improve enough to get into contention for London 2012.
Robin Middleton and Mariana Agathangelou, who have nosed
their way encouragingly into the world's top 30, have a chance
of earning a meeting with former world champions Nova Widianto
and Lilyanan Natsir by getting past Baptise Careme and Laura
Choinet, at 34 the highest ranked French players so far.
And Clark will continue the last phase of his long distinguished
mixed doubles career with the young, mobile and hard-working
Heather Olver. Although their partnership is still in its
infancy, they will certainly hope to do well against the top 20
Indonesians, Fran Kurniawan Teng and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet.
And so to the singles, for so many years the disciplines in
which the British have sought to succeed. There are just three
hopes.
With Jill Pittard retired and Liz Cann still working her
way up after a car crash, it is a year in which there are no
English players with direct entry into the women's singles, and
Cann Susan Egelstaff of Scotland offer the only British
interest.
 Last
year Egelstaff played a long, tough and exhausting match against
Nanna Brosolat, the Dane who went on a giant-killing rampage
into the semi-finals; this time Egelstaff faces Sayaka Sato, a
Japanese player who is only six places above her at world number
26. If she wins she should meet the world champion, Lu Lan.
The men's singles sees the two English hopes, Rajeev Ouseph
and Andrew Smith. Both are hoping to push their way up
into a position where they can feature regularly in the small
fields of the Super Series circuit.
Ouseph did his confidence no harm by winning the English
national title a third time last month, and will start against a
qualifier. If he wins he should face Chen Jin, the 2008
All-England champion, which might prove a good test of his
improvement.
Smith, who has been promising to bring down a big name for some
time for he has the quality of game to do it will need to
deny the man immediately behind him in the world rankings to get
the chance to do that.
Now world number 26, Smith faces Eric Pang, the second best
Dutchman, whom he would hope to beat on home soil. His reward is
a probable second round with Taufik Hidayat, the former Olympic
and World champion from Indonesia and that is nowhere near as
intimidating a proposition as it may sound, for Smith used to
spar with the great Indonesian at their adopted base at the
Kuala Lumpur Racket Club.
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