Badminton: China sweep Asian titles

BEIJING: After sweeping five gold medals at the Asian Badminton Championships, China’s powerful team led by Lin Dan is now focusing on qualification for the 2012 London Olympics. Lin dispatched teammate Bao Chunlai in straight sets 21-19, 21-13. Meanwhile, second-seed Wang Yihan beat Lu Lan 21-15, 23-21 to take the women’s singles title. In the men’s doubles event, the Chinese duo of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng beat the Japanese pairing of Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata 21-12, 21-15. In the women’s doubles final, Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli beat Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei 21-13, 21-10, while Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei beat Xu Chen and Ma Jin 15-21, 21-15, 25-23 to win the mixed doubles title.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2011.