Badminton: China Open Championship-Cupidon and Ah-Wan lose at the first hurdle |03 November 2006

But whilst in China, Juliette Ah-Wan and Georgie Cupidon competed in the China Open Badminton Championships. The International Badminton Federation six-star World Grand Prix, which had a total prize money of US $250,000 on offer, took place in Guangzhou.

After spending 17 minutes on the court in a 0-2 (1-15 1-15) loss to eventual gold medallist Chen Hong of China in his first match last year, Cupidon again bowed out at the first hurdle in the men’s singles tournament this year. He lost 0-2 (8-21, 11-21) to Chun Seang of Malaysia.

In the ladies’ singles, Ah-Wan, who lost 0-2 (1-11 1-11) to a Chinese last year, fell 0-2 (12-21, 14-21) to American Eva Lee in qualifier number four.

Ah-Wan and Cupidon, the country’s two top shuttlers, joined forces in the mixed doubles but they lost 0-2 (7-21, 17-21) in round one to the Singaporean duo of Hendri Kurniawan Sapuira and Yujia Li.

It is to note that last year Ah-Wan and Cupidon safely negotiated their way past a mixed Egyptian and Jamaican pair on a 2-0 score in the first round. They then bowed out of the competition after losing 0-2 (16-17 8-15) to a Russian duo.

Hosts China swept four out of five gold medals. Men’s singles defending champion Chen Hong outlasted fellow Chinese Bao Chunlai 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) in the final, while veteran Chinese player Zhang Ning, 32, lifted the women's singles top honour with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-5) victory over Yao Jie from the Netherlands.

The women's doubles final was an all-Chinese affair with Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen triumphing 2-0 (21-17, 21-7) over Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen.

The mixed doubles final clash was also between Chinese pairs.  Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen clinched a 2-0 (21-19, 21-5) victory over Xu Chen and Zhao Tingting.

The only title the Chinese missed was the men’s doubles. It went to the Indonesian pair of Kido Markis and Setiawan Hendra who beat Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China 2-0 (21-16, 21-16).

G. G.