WORLDS 2010 – Cai & Fu breeze through

Cai and Fu victorious over Clark and Robertson

Defending champions Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng steamrolled over England’s Clark/Robertson to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2010 Yonex BWF World Badminton Championships.

By Mark Phelan (Live in Paris).  Photo: Badmintonphoto.com (Live)

Whatever plan the English number one pair had coming into this match clearly backfired as the Chinese duo subdued any attempt by the Clark and Robertson to get a foothold on the match.

The first set was a non contest with the flamboyant Chinese pair conducting a master class in men’s doubles badminton. The set was literally over before it began as Cai and Fu (pictured) blasted Robertson and Clark off the court 21-6. For the English, the second set continued just as the first ended with the Chinese world champions powering home to a 21-9 victory.

“For us it’s impossible to replicate playing against opposition like that in training. You could put 10 players out against them [Cai & Fu] and they would still beat us. They are in amazing form,” said a gracious Clark after the heavy defeat.

“This is one of the hottest halls I have probably played in and we are in Europe we must remember. We travel to Asia to play and air-conditioning is standard. It’s virtually impossible to play 2 matches in one day in this unforgiving heat,” commented Robertson.

Elsewhere in the battle of the seeds, in the women’s doubles, the young Korean number 8 seeds Yoo Hyun Young and Jung Kyung Eun (pictured) were victorious over the reigning European champions Vislova and Sorokina in an immense three-set battle 13-21, 21-19, 26-24. The Koreans, who have grown up together and attended school together and in their early days were coached by ’92 Olympic champion Hwang Hye Young, proved too strong in the end in the heat on the TV court for their older opponents.

For all results click HERE