From Paris, with Love

It was the final day for the World Badminton Championships 2010 in Paris. All 5 matches: Men's single, Men's double, Women's single, Women's double and Mixed double were played. Only men's single and double are the real matches, as the Chinese opponent are Indonesian and Malaysian players. The remaining matches were the "internal affair" for the Chinese badminton team.

And the final result?

China 5, Rest of the world 0

China swept clean all the titles in this year's championship.

Men's single and double are my all time favourite match. This year's final saw Chen Jin beat Taufik Hidayat from Indonesia. Taufik is one of my favourite player. He has a powerful backhand smash, and he is good in net-playing. Whereas Chen Jin, he is like a no.2 Lin Dan. He is a hardworking man. Every return shots from opponent he'll try to save it, no matter how hard it is. He ran all over the court, left and right, back and front, like a little kid running over a place. Of course other players run around the court too, but their movements is not like the Chinese who started to move around when the opponent just return their shot. It's like their responds are very quick, and they move around easily, just like flying. In this final match, Chen Jin started off with a great starts, leading 7-0 in the first set and 5-0 in the second set, all points consecutively. But Taufik, the former Olympic and World Champion does not let the Chinese had some easy path. Taufik always find a way to attack Chen Jin, but somehow, Chen Jin managed to cope with it. In the end, Chen Jin proved he is much more consistent, focus and made less errors to become the new world champion.

Whereas the always thrilling and exciting men's double, was the last match of all matches. It is also the one that made me stayed up late at night when I should be sleeping cos' next day was a working day. Defending champions from China vs world rank no1's pair from Malaysia. The Chinese started good, but the Malaysian caught up and lead the Chinese throughout the first set, and eventually won the set. In the second game, the Malaysian were too eager and thus lead to made mistakes. On top of that, the great defense by the Chinese duo make it hard for the Malaysian who try to break them. As a result, the Chinese won the second and third set, and defended their title. It is worth to stay up late to watch it, because it really was a great match, with some rallies, powerful smashing and wonderful displays from all players.

Paris is a romantic city, but winning a championship title is more meaningful to the players. Love them or hate them, the current Chinese badminton team is now the best of the best. Merci, to all the badminton players for their hard work and beautiful shots throughout the week. We, the badminton fans truly enjoyed all the matches! =)