China tightened their vice-like grip on world badminton on Sunday
with a 3-0 thrashing of Indonesia to win the Sudirman Cup mixed team
tournament, their third straight international team title.
Nova
Widianto and Lilyana Natsir kindled Indonesian hopes of an upset over the
heavily favoured hosts by taking the first game in their key mixed doubles
with Gao Ling and Zhang Jun.
But China turned the tide and Gao's net prowess and Zhang's baseline
firepower enabled them to edge clear for a 12-15 15-5 15-8 victory.
Chinese top singles player Lin Dan faced his stiffest challenge of the
tournament against Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and had to come from
behind in both games to win their battle 17-15 15-9.
Zhang Ning, an Athens gold medallist and the world's number two woman,
then gave China their fifth Sudirman title by overwhelming Fransisca Hari
11-1 11-7 for a 3-0 victory that sent the crowd in the Capital Stadium
into flag-waving delirium .
The next Sudirman Cup will be held in 2007 in Glasgow,
Scotland.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-16 09:03
