CHINA LEAGUE 2011 – Hunan wins third on the road

Wang Yihan of Shanghai Zwick © China Foto Press

Wang Yihan retired before taking a second  point for Shanghai at home in the China Badminton Super League fourth round.

By Ooi Ee Lyn, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: China Foto Press

It has been two weeks since the ball of the China League started rolling and each team has played four matches so far.  Shanghai’s Zwick stood on home court to face the challenge from second-seeded Hunan Xiangcai Securities Saturday. The latter had put up a show with a lesson saying, home-court advantage was but a bittersweet tale as they toppled Shanghai 3-2.

Hunan have yet to play a match on home court but their “world-class team”, as proclaimed by Bao Chunlai after today’s game, has earned three wins out of four team matches played and is currently placed second on the board of the 2011 Chinese Badminton League.  Shanghai, meanwhile, after having played twice on home soil, has had a rough start losing three of four challenges.

In today’s meet-up between the two clubs, Hunan’s Zheng Bo / Tian Qing started smoothly with an easy 21-19, 21-8 win against Shanghai’s Guo Zhendong / Xie Jing. Bao Chunlai then stepped onto the court, expecting to earn a second point for the club of his birth-province from the hands of Chen Long. However, Bao dropped the matche in three games after being twisted over by Chen Long, who was backed up by an enthusiastic home ground crowd, pulling the match to a one-all tie.

Chen Long of Shanghai Zwick © China Foto Press

Chen Long credited his victory to the sweet memory of winning his first ever Super Series title in the China Open in Shanghai last December.  “I won in the Super Series here last year and it has for sure given me some confidence,” Chen told sports.cn.  “However, I am not as experienced as Bao Chunlai so to me, a positive mindset and trying hard to break through was most important.”

Bao then pointed his lack of stamina as the culprit in today’s defeat, with an explanation to sports.cn that ran this way: “I had been eating too much meat during my meals these days. With that and the excessive training lately, I’m feeling very tired.” Despite his loss, Bao giggled cheekily as he expressed his confidence in his team-mates, saying, “Our teammates are all world-class players!”

Hunan then grabbed their second point in the women’s doubles represented by youngsters Xia Huan / Bao Yixin.

Shanghai, losing 1-2 at the time, saw a light as world #2 Wang Yihan marched into the stadium to meet Hunan youngster Chen Xiaojia.  Wang grabbed the first game in 21-13, only to lose the second one 20-22. Just as everyone’s hope started burning again with her 9-6 lead in the rubber game, Wang surprisingly signalled that she was retiring, marking Shanghai’s first home ground defeat, so as her second personal loss against the hopeful China Junior Champion in two seasons.

In the men’s doubles match, which ended an hour before midnight, Guo Zhendong tripped up his new partner Chai Biao.  Guo and Hong Wei beat Chai and Zheng Bo in straight games, but this still left the home Shanghai team on the losing end of a 2-3 contest.

Complete Feb 26th (4th round) results:

JIANGSU 4 – 1 GUANGZHOU
BAYI 2 – 3 WUHAN
ZHEJIANG 3 – 2 QINGDAO
SHANGHAI 2 – 3 HUNAN

The next matches involving the China Badminton League’s eight clubs will be played on March 3^rd.

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