BEIJING - Second seeds Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng failed to realize a 16-year dream of winning the men's doubles gold at Olympic Games, losing to top seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia 21-12, 11-21, 16-21 here on Saturday.
Kido Markis (L) and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia celebrate with their coach after winning against China's Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun in their men's doubles gold medal match of the badminton event during the 2008 Beijing Olympic at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on August 16, 2008. Markis and Setiawan defeated Cai and Fu by 12-21, 21-11, 21-16. [Agencies] |
The first set was totally controlled by the Chinese pair, whose precise drops and consistent smashes easily penetrated the opponents' defence.
However, the situation has totally changed from the second set, in which Cai and Fu made a lot of unforced errors and allowed the Indonesian pair to regain their confidence.
The third set was almost a copy of the second one, only in the latter part of which they staged strong resistance when the score was 20-12 in favor of the Indonesians, but it seemed too late and they finally lost the set at 16-21.
China's Fu Haifeng (L) and Cai Yun play against Kido Markis and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in their men's doubles gold medal match of the badminton event during the 2008 Beijing Olympic at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on August 16, 2008. Markis and Setiawan defeated Cai and Fu by 12-21, 21-11, 21-16. [Xinhua] |
Sixteen years ago, Li Yongbo, the head coach of Chinese badminton team won the bronze medal at Barcelona Olympics in men's doubles with his partner Tian Binyi. Since then, the Chinese men's doubles players had never bagged a single medal, not to mention a gold.
The Chinese duo actually has set a record for China to reach the final in the men's doubles, beating Danish veterans Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen in the first round, Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong from the United States in the second round, and Lee Jae-jin and Hwang Ji-man in the semi-final.
On the surprisingly easy win in the first set, Fu Haifeng said the reason was that the opponents were too nervous and too anxious.
But in the second set, they "recovered to their normal state and staged enormous pressure on us from the serve-receive phase."
"We wanted to attack, but we couldn't find enough chances to do so," he said.
The 24-year-old, however, felt satisfied with their performance throughout the whole tournament.
"We've tried our best, and we felt no regret today," said Fu.