Mixed Doubles: Zhang-Gao survive scare

 

Athens, 19 August 2004:

JUST what didn't Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms do to win the mixed doubles gold against Zhang Jun and Gao Lin? They levelled a first-game deficit, they neutralised Zhang Jun, they made their opponents so desperate that Zhang started arguing petulantly with the chair umpire. Towards the death, it was looking like one team had at least broken the Chinese domination... but then again, not yet, the Chinese seemed to assert. They had no gears left, but they had reserve fuel; and Robertson and Emms were left to contemplate what the Chinese had that they didn't.

So the Chinese went home defending their Sydney Olympics gold medal, with a 15-1, 12-15, 15-12 win over the Great Britain pair, the first to reach an Olympic final.

Result aside, Robertson was magnificent: covering the court, leaping and smashing, dropping and flicking. He prowled the net and cut off the back court; Zhang and Gao reduced to bemused spectators on a few occassions. And yet it wasn't enough. Was it because Emms wasn't as sharp as she needed to be?

When the Chinese swept the first game 15-1, it looked almost funny when the English coach told his team at the break: "Step up on it... you can do it. Pressure's on them."

Pressure? With a 15-1 first game loss?

But the English team went 6-1 ahead, thanks to some smart play. They didn't allow Zhang to get under the shuttle, but kept it close to the net, with flicked returns, crosscourt slices and short serves. And then, the errors started coming from Zhang.

At 7-10, he misjudged a line, and then argued with the umpire. It clearly looked like the Chinese were losing their composure, and the English pair took advantage, attacking the left-handed Zhang, who gifted the game when he hit out.

The lead changed from the Chinese to the English; Zhang's errors continued, and the English led 7-3. The Chinese were now shaking their heads smiling as if to say: This isn't our day... and the big error came from Gail Emms.

The shuttle sat up, waiting to be killed, and she tamely sent it into the net. Zhang and Gao came right back into the match -- Zhang seemed to pick up his game in an instant. Earlier his smash had been erratic; but he suddenly pounced on everything, and before long, it was 8-all.

Robertson again revved himself up, huge jumps, smashing from that awesome height, bringing it to 11-8. Again the Chinese broke, Zhang smashed two winners, and finally it was 14-11 for the Chinese.

But Robertson wasn't done. Out of position on a rally, he still arched back and delivered a booming smash, and brought them to 12-14.

China attacked the serve, Emms saved one match point, but with an easy kill, she again hit it into the net. A cruel result for Great Britain, a fantastic one for China.

Unseeded Danes Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager took the Olympic badminton mixed doubles bronze medal on Thursday.
The pair won an all-Danish playoff, beating seventh seeds Jonas Rasmussen and Rikke Olsen 15-5 15-5.

(Dev S Sukumar)