It’s the return of the Dragon in badminton

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Bangalore: It was the return of the Dragon at the Sydney Olympics badminton event. Twice thwarted in the earlier editions of the game (1992 and 1996), the Chinese came back with vengeance to make a near sweep.

After his compatriot and the World No.1, Gong Zhi Chao made short work of Camilla Martin of Denmark in the women's singles final, the mercurial, Ji Xinpeng, showing a rare consistency, claimed the men's singles title. The Chinese also won the women's doubles final with Ge Fei and Gu Jun emerging as the champion pair.

It had been a momentous tournament for the Chinese and they deserved their glory. The Chinese played with the right game plan against varied rivals. Ji Xinpeng's triumph was truly was a class act as he dumped the top seeded, Taufik Hidyaat of Indonesia and later highly favoured Peter Gade Christensen , the most experienced player left in the fray in the last four, in a back to back victory.

Then came the big hurdle of second seed Hendrawan in the final. Hendrawan was in his elements till the final, but against an inspired Ji Xinpeng, the Indonesian was on the defenesive and made too many unforced errors to go down at 4-15, 13-15.

Hendrawan did have his chances in the second game , leading 9-4 and 13-10, but the all conquering Chinese rallied with attacking strokes to take the game and match.

The new Olympic champion's last international tournament was the Malaysian Open, where he was stopped, hold your breath, by none other than our own P Gopi Chand . But international badminton is all about big comebacks and Ji Xinpeng has epitomised that trait.

Gong Zhi Chao evokes nothing but awe among the fans and fear among her rivals. This season has been a great one for the strong stroking Chinese girl, who had made mincemeat of all her rivals at home and abroad. After beating her team-mate Dan Yun, Gong humbled the Danish ace, Camilla Martin 13-10, 11-3 in the final.

Once Camilla lost her 10-7 lead in the first game, her confidence vanished and it was Gong all the way. If Ji Xinpeng and Gong Zhi Chao made it a grand double for China, the defeat of Camilla Martin and her fiance Peter Gade Christensen was the end of Danish dream.

The romantic duo 's hopes of whipping up a Danish double delight lay in shambles in the wake of Chinese charge.



(c) Reuters Limited.