ASIAN CHAMPS 2012 Finals – Chen Jin inches closer to Olympic dreams

Chen Jin was crowned Asian Champion on Sunday in Qingdao, earning valuable points to stay in the 4^th world rank to qualify for the Olympics. China scooped 4 titles and Korea’s men’s doubles won the fifth.

By Emzi Regala, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: China Foto Press (live)

Chen Jin (photo) played superior badminton over his compatriot Du Pengyu to capture his first Badminton Asia Championships gold in Qingdao, and more importantly earned valuable Olympic points to boost his race to the world#4 spot against Peter Gade. According to Badzine’s latest dummy list, on April 22nd, Chen Jin was less than 2000 points ahead of Gade and the loss of the latter in the second round of his European Championships will make it difficult for the Dane to overcome his Chinese rival unless he performs above par in the upcoming India Super Series.

On Sunday in Qingdao, the fresher Chen Jin, coming through to the finals via a walkover, displayed more fluidity on court against the tired-looking Pengyu, who first had to return to the courts a day after over 1 hour of fierce semi-final badminton.  To the delight of the crowd, Chen Jin dived twice to retrieve the shuttle and came out with a soft smash winner down the line.   Chen Jin took the 1^st game 21-12.

Du Pengyu started to move his feet better in the 2^nd game and was able to cope with the Chen Jin’s speed.  He managed to keep the score close but the more determined Chen Jin pulled through in the 2^nd game 21-18 to win the championship and move closer to confirming his participation in another Olympic Games.

Li Xuerui’s hard-earned victory against Wang Yihan is a strong statement that she’s at par with the world#1 and ready to snatch China’s women’s singles top spot.  Li grabbed the 1^st game 21-16, confidently varying her shots and making Wang Yihan commit too many errors.  The reigning Asian Champion Wang Yihan however, came back in the 2^nd game with more aggression to reverse the outcome to 21-16 in her favour.   Wang Yihan was pushed to her limits in almost an hour of classic badminton and finally bowed down to consummate the 3^rd game 9-21, handing back the championship crown to the 2010 Asian Badminton Champion Li Xuerui (photo).

Koreans Kim Ki Jung/ Kim Sa Rang (photo) recorded their first victory against Japanese pair of Hiroyuki Endo / Kenichi Hayakawa in the only match on finals day without Chinese representation.  The younger Korean pair played more relaxed and dictated the tempo early in the 1^st game. Superb racket skills with some luck at the net enabled them to take the 1^st game 21-12.

Slowing down the tempo of the 2^nd game proved to be effective for the Japanese pair who got ahead 11-9, but several unforced errors proved fatal and caused them to lose the 2^nd game 16-21.

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