The Hindu : Zhou Mi is new women's champion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 14, 2002

Sport

Sport - Asian Games

Zhou Mi is new women's champion

By A. Vinod

BUSAN Oct. 13. It was a day of upsets and one-sided matches. Leaving thus very little to write home about. A pity in itself as the crowd too were to leave the Gangseo gymnasium courts on Sunday somewhat disappointed though they had a new hero in Lee Hyun-Il.

The trend of the penultimate day of the badminton events of the 14th Asian Games, in fact, was set by the first match itself when the all-China women's final proved to be such a tame affair. The encounter lasting less than a quarter-hour witnessed the emergence of the top-seeded Zhou Mi as the new Asian Games champion with a 11-1, 11-1 win over compatriot and World champion Gong Ruina.

It was at the expense of Zhou that Gong had won the World title in Seville, Spain, last year. And as such though one could practically say that Zhou finally had her revenge, it was not the match which the eventual champion would ever rate as one of her best performances.

Especially as Gong remained error-prone and looked completely lost all the way, and thereby giving Zhou enough space and time to go through the routine with effortless ease. By no chance was Gong injured, the confirmation on this coming from the team management later.

The men's singles semifinals between the World champion Henrawan and the day's hero Lee Hyun-Il, by that way, too had little to offer as the hard-smashing South Korean kept going right from the start and gave little away for the Indonesian to counter-attack. Lee won 15-3, 15-4 in just 16 minutes.

The winner, into the lead straightaway, had his rival wrong-footed time and again and the writing on the wall was there for all to see soon enough as Lee kept going and took the first set in just under six minutes. Hendrawan, indeed was left shell-shocked by the sudden turn of event and this was evident when he failed to rise up to expectations once again in the second set.

For all the heat that the tie between Taufik Hidayat and Shon Seung-Mo had generated in the Indonesia-South Korea final of the team event, the other day, the second semifinals too was a repeat of the earlier matches that the day had witnessed.

The Indonesian, upset by a slew of line-calls which went against him, had left the court for more than two hours then only to return and lose to his South Korean rival.

Taufik controlled his nerves better today. And launching himself to gain the revenge, the Indonesian was fully in control as he swept away the South Korean 15-10, 15-7 in just a little over 17 minutes.

The hosts, later, were helped to the mixed doubles title as Kim Dong-Moon and Ra-Kyung Min easily whipped their Thai rivals Khunakorn Sudhisodhi and Saralee Thoungthongkam 11-4, 11-3. The agony was finally over.

The results: men's singles (semifinals): Lee Hyun-Il (Kor) bt Hendrawan (Ina) 15-3, 15-4; Taufik Hidayat (Ina) bt Shon Seung-Mo (Kor) 15-10, 15-7. Doubles (semifinals): Lee Dong-Soo/Yoo Yong-Sung (Kor) bt Chan Chong Ming/Chew Choon Eng (Mas) 17-16, 15-12; Pramote Teerawiwatana/Tesana Panvisavas (Tha) bt Halim Heryanto/Tri Kus Harjanto (Ina) 17-15, 15-8.

Women's singles (final): Zhou Mi (Chn) bt Gong Ruina (Chn) 11-1, 11-1. Doubles (semifinals): Gao Ling/Huang Sui (Chn) bt Lee Hyo-Jung/Hwang Yu-Mi (Kor) 11-2, 11-9; Ra Kyung-Min/Lee Kyung-Won (Kor) 11-7, 11-9.

Mixed doubles (final): Kim Dong-Moon/Ra Kyung-Min (Kor) bt Khunakorn Sudhisodhi/Saralee Thoungthongkam (Tha) 11-4, 11-0.

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