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A first time for India in 21 years
March 12, 2001 - Source : IBF
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There is one man who is probably very happy on the other side of the earth: Prakash Padukone now has found another leader for the Indian team.
And he had to wait for 21 years before he saw the green, white and orange striped flag rise up on the top podium at the All England.
Pullela Gopichand had proven within the last few days that he had the will, the serenity and the intelligence of the game to become a great champion, yet he was missing one big win in a grand prix event. It was all these qualities that brought him the missing title yesterday in Birmingham. And what a win! The clever Indian was also lucky because his opponent Chen Hong wasn’t having a good day. The Chinese’s game is characterised by a highly risky kind of play, attacking the shuttle very early and aiming at lines.
Chen, perhaps affected by his lengthy semi-final wasn’t as efficient as he usually is, and gave important points away. And Gopichand is no man to be given easy points as his confidence then provides him with an even greater game. The Chinese led 7/3 in the first game after pushing Gopichand to his back line, but he then started to commit unforced errors and let Gopichand get even. The Indian cleverly varied the pace of the game, using his great net play to trouble Chen and draw even 12/12, eventually winning the first game 15/12. The second game was played much faster by the Indian, who for once hurried between points as he understood Chen couldn’t get back in the game. On a last fault by the Chinese when he was behind 6/14, Gopi raised his hands in the air and realised he had achieved one of his dreams. "I really am thrilled to have won these Championships, it means a lot to me and I hope that it will have an impact on India’s badminton. Badminton in my country is not a top sport, and it deserves to be as many young players are in the process of becoming champions," said Gopichand.
The whole Indian community – quite in number in Great Britain – could celebrate and the 27-year-old new champion had to sign many autographs. A few minutes after he had stepped down from the podium, his team mates carried him in triumph. His coaches were bouncing besides him. "Now it is time to party!" said his coach. In the all-Chinese final of the women''s singles, Gong Zhichao proved that strength, power and height have nothing to do with talent. Even if she is much shorter and tinier than her opponent Zhou Mi, Gong was the boss on court: Fast sliced drop shots, inspired net play, incredibly well placed back hand shots led the titleholder to lead 8/1 very quickly in the first game. Zhou then put some speed in the game and started to come back but Gong raised the level again to close up the game.
Zhou couldn’t cope with Gong’s vision, and the fact that the two girls know each other by heart was to Gong’s advantage. She drove her opponent to each corner of the court before killing the shuttle on one of her deception smart shots. There is no question - Gong Zhichao deserved the title she had captured last year.
Rikke Olsen and Mickael Sogaard will probably think they are cursed when they play Chinese mixed double Gao Ling and Zhang Jun. A few months ago, it was against them that they had one match point to go to the Olympic final. And yesterday in Birmingham, the Danes had two match points to win the event during a very intense final.
"We are very disappointed of course but we did everything we can. We tried to be aggressive on court, and we played very well. There are no regrets to have, they just played better than us in key moments," said Sogaard, who had said previously that he was to retire after the World Championships in Seville. "That’s what he said but I hope to persuade him to go on for another year," said Rikke Olsen.
Gao Ling will be going back to China as the big winner of this 103rd edition as she was also crowned in the women’s doubles with partner Huang Sui. The two girls held a good fight against their young compatriots Wei and Zhang. It took almost one and a half hours to put experience above youth.
In the men’s doubles, 1997 World Champions Halim Heryanto and Tony Gunawan beat Sigit Budiarto and Candra Wijaya, also from Indonesia, in a hard three-game match as well. The last time Gunawan and Wijaya were on a podium was in Sydney, where they had reached the highest level together as partners. Both teams were unseeded for this event, but the newly formed pairs should now be appearing in the world’s top 15 to claim a seed in the World Champs in Seville.
Pullela Gopichand (IND) bt Chen Hong (CHN) : 15/12 – 15/6 (47’)
Gong Zhichao (CHN) bt Zhou Mi (CHN) : 11/7 – 11/3 (33’)
Zhang/Gao (CHN) bt Olsen/Sogaard (DEN) : 12/5 -/12 -7/14 (73’)
Gao/Huang (CHN) bt Wei/Zhang (CHN) : 10/15 –15/8 – 15/9
Gunawan/Heriyanto (INA) bt Budiarto/Wijaya (INA) : 15-13, 7-15, 15-7 (81’) |
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