Lin Dan in quest for second Olympic title as China set to stamp authority

 BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Badminton superstar Lin Dan is in quest for a record second Olympic title at the London Olympic Games starting from July 28 to August 5 when star-studded China will be looking forward to stamping its authority.

Different from previous Olympic badminton competitions, the London Games will witness the debut¹ of a new format², to be played on two stages - group play and knock-out stages.

China is still hot favorite in all the five events after claiming three gold, two silver, and three bronze medals in 2008. But rivals will be queuing up to give China a bloody³ nose on the biggest stage of all at the Wembley Arena⁴.

Although China made a clean-sweep in recent two world championships and swept both Sudirman Cup and Thomas & Uber Cup, Chinese long-time head coach Li Yongbo has attempted to lower expectations for the London Games.

"Four years ago we were on home soil, but in London we will be away and encounter more challenges," he warned.

Li believed China can at least bag two golds in London and the order from easy to difficult is the women's doubles, women's singles, men's singles, mixed doubles and men's doubles.

No shuttler has defended the men's singles title in the history of the Olympic Games ever, and Lin Dan has a chance to break the jinx after he beat Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei in a one-sided final four years ago.

Lin said he wanted "everything to be like in 2008 before Beijing" after he led China to win its fifth successive Thomas Cup title in May.

However he kept a low profile, saying "it's difficult to repeat the peak of the Beijing Games".

"I should take nothing for granted and I am going to use every day as an opportunity to prepare and improve," he said.

Widely considered the most decorated shuttler of all time, Lin has won every major title available to an Asian.

Standing⁵ in the 29-year-old's quest for a second Olympic title will again be his main rival Lee. Though the Malaysian tore a tendon in his ankle during the Thomas Cup match last month and lost the world No. 1 place to Lin for the first time in nearly four years, he is still the biggest barrier for Lin.

Lee was the on-form shuttler and favorite for almost every super series in the past 12 months, and his rehabilitation⁶ went smoothly⁷ and it seems he will recover from the injury in time.

However, one criticism of Lee's career is the lack of titles from world major competitions, like the world championships, Asian Games and the Olympic Games.

Besides, Lee will feel more pressure by bearing Malaysia's hope of a first Olympic gold at London.

"Maintaining my fitness under these conditions is tough but there's no shortcut⁸ and the thought that I won't be able to fight for the (Olympic) gold medal drives me on," said Lee.

Other than Lin, Lee will also meet hard resistance from two Chinese shuttlers, Chen Long and Chen Jin, who ranked third and fourth in the world. Although neither of the duo has achieved the same kind of long-running dominance like Lin, they can still be challengers.

China's supremacy⁹ can also be shown in women's singles and women's doubles. Chine has dominated the two events by claiming all the golds since 2000 and 1996 respectively.

Women's singles is the only Olympic badminton event in which China has four players qualified¹⁰, however, according to Badminton World Federation¹¹ (BWF) rules, a team can have up to three Olympic singles qualification berths¹² if at least three players qualify in the world top four.

China at last dropped Asian Games winner Wang Shixian and picked Li Xuerui to enter the London Games along with world top two Wang Yihan and Wang Xin.

Wang Yihan, the reigning¹³ world champion, staged a stable performance this year by leading China to regain¹⁴ the Uber Cup. However, Wang Xin has not won a title since the 2011 Hong Kong Open win, and has reached only one final this year.

Li Xuerui hits her form since this February by achieving a four-tournament winning streak¹⁵, but she lacks experience as the 21 year-old has never been in big events like Olympics and world championships before.

Chinese three shuttlers will face numerous opponents, the number of which has doubled compared with the Beijing Games, namely India's world No.5 Saina Nehwal, Germany's Juliane Schenk, Danish veteran Tine Baun, South Korean Sung Ji Hyun and Thailand's teenager Ratchanok Intanon.

Women's doubles world No.1 Yu Yang/Wang Xiaoli of China made 12 consecutive¹⁶ finals appearances with seven BWF Superseries titles to their name in 2011. The pair are considered as the hot favorites, while teammates Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei, world No. 2, are also contenders for the gold.

Men's doubles and mixed doubles are wide open as the competitors' level is very close.

South Korean Chung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae surpass China's world champions Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng to top men's doubles world ranking recently.

The new world No.1 hope to make up for their Beijing regret after they were stunned¹⁷ in the first round at the Beijing Games.

"In the past four years, I always think about the reason why I lost in the first round. Four years later I will vie for the gold," said Lee, gold medalist in mixed doubles at the 2008 Games.

Cai/Fu are more eager for the Olympic gold because the pair lost the Beijing final to Indonesia's Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan, who are not qualified for the London Games.

The Chinese popular pair are four-time world champions and two-time All-England winners. The London Games will be their third Olympic journey. In 2004, they were stopped in the top eight clash.

"Cai and Fu keep good form heading towards the London Games, and they are more mature in terms of techniques, mindset and experience. I hope they can win the gold," said Li Yongbo.

Other challengers in men's doubles include 2011 world superseries finals winners Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen of Denmark, South Korea's world No.4 Ko Sung Hyun/Yoo Yeon Seong.

In mixed doubles, Chinese pair Zhan Nan/Zhao Yunlei and Xu Chen/Ma Jin ranked 1-2 in the world. But they are also not dominant¹⁸ in the event as they were beaten by Denmark's Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pederson and Indonesia's Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir in the past 12 months.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

3 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

4 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

7 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

8 shortcut   

n.近路，捷径

参考例句：

• He was always looking for a shortcut to fame and fortune.他总是在找成名发财的捷径。
• If you take the shortcut,it will be two li closer.走抄道去要近2里路。

9 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

10 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

11 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

12 berths   

n.（船、列车等的）卧铺( berth的名词复数 )；（船舶的）停泊位或锚位；差事；船台vt.v.停泊( berth的第三人称单数 )；占铺位

参考例句：

• Berths on steamships can be booked a long while in advance. 轮船上的床位可以提前多日预订。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Have you got your berths on the ship yet? 你们在船上有舱位了吗？ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 reigning   

adj.统治的，起支配作用的

参考例句：

• The sky was dark, stars were twinkling high above, night was reigning, and everything was sunk in silken silence. 天很黑，星很繁，夜阑人静。
• Led by Huang Chao, they brought down the reigning house after 300 years' rule. 在黄巢的带领下，他们推翻了统治了三百年的王朝。

14 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

15 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

16 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

17 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

18 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。