Not “All China” in All-England

ALL England 2008 (the title is the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships) became the 98th Championships for Yonex –the great badminton equipment manufacturer- it would be be the 25th consecutive year of Yonex sponsorship, making it one of the longest relationships in sports worldwide. The Championships began in 1899 with Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles, with Men's & Women's Singles being introduced in 1900. The 2008 Championships returned to the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham between the 4th and 9th March 2008.
On every final match, China dominated –except for men doubles. Almost All-Chinese in All-England, if Lu Lan not lost to Tine Rasmussen from Denmark, and Yang Yu/For win to Jung Lee/ Wong Lee from Korean. And Cai Yun/ Fu Haifeng not lost in quarter final. For me, the excellence match is done when Jae Sung Jung/ Jong Dae Lee defeat Lee Wan Wah/ Choong Tan Fook 13-21 24-22 21-23 on semifinal. It’s a phantom badminton (remember the 1st phantom badminton –when Icuk Sugiarto beat Liem Swie King at the final World Cup in Kopenhagen 1983). Jae Sung Jung/ Jong Dae Lee is young generations in men doubles, compare to ‘the old soldier’ Lee Wan Wah/ Choong Tan Fook whose age is up to 30. But their style is opposite. Jung/ Lee playing the ‘old style’ –choose to play rally overhead, slowly, high and jump smash, and refers to put the cock into empty position. But Wah/ Fook similar to modern style –playing fast drive, flat power stroke, put shuttlecock not long in the air. The young gun from Korean with old style… win. Dramatic winning because Wah/ Fook got their matchpoint first at 20-16. Dramatic, but tragedy for Malaysian and the coach Rexy Mainaky.
On final, The Korean number 6 seeds and runners-up in Germany, Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae, won against stable-mates, German Open winners and number 11 seeds Hwang Ji Man and Lee Jae Jin. The number 6 seeds will start as slight favourites after beating the much fancied number 4 seeds Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah of Malaysia. A Korean gold is assured and the last victory for Korea in this event was in 2002 when Ha Tae Kwon and Kim Dong Moon snatched the title. And what about my country Indonesia? Since 2003 by Candra/ Sigit, our team will return home empty handed. On final Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir became the last players to fall, going down to Chinese Zheng Bo and Gao Ling in the finals in Birmingham, England, on Sunday. They took the opening game 21-18 despite being forced to overcome some nerves early on. But they lost the remaining two games, 21-14, 21-9. Nova/ Lily not so embraced I think.
On semifinal Widianto/ Natsir succeed to disappointing the home crowd after beating the silver champion of Olympic Games 2004, the host, Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms in 2 sets. On final against Bo/ Gao Ling the Indonesian slip 5-13 but win 21-18 in first set. The defeat added to a series of failures for Indonesia in the world's oldest competition after Taufik Hidayat and his compatriot Sony Dwi Kuncoro exited in quarterfinals.

Source: badzine.info, http://thebadmintonblog.blogspot.com, and thejakartapost