By REDintern Shaline Tan.
Amid the hullabaloo over table tennis, the state of Singapore badminton will in time also come into question. Our two best singles players – Ronald Susilo and Xing Aiying – did not make it past the first round in Beijing. While Ronald had to face Lee Chong Wei in the first round, Xing Aiying fell unexpectedly to a lower-ranked player.
We recap what happened with both players at the Beijing Olympics.
Ronald Susilo
It was probably one of the worst match-ups Ronald Susilo could get in the first round at the Beijing Olympics – a meeting with Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, the second seed. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Susilo was also handed the worst possible first round opponent – number one seed Lin Dan of China. But on that day, Susilo pulled off a stunning defeat and made it to the quarter-finals.
But Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia had not only beaten Susilo at the Yonex Open Japan Super Series in September 2007, he had also defeated Lin Dan and Chen Jin to eventually win that particular event.
And so in Beijing, in just 38 minutes, Lee Chong Wei defeated Ronald Susilo in straight sets, 21-13, 21-14. Lee was determined to minimise his mistakes in both sets of the game, while Susilo appeared to be anxious, committing several unforced errors in his game. The early exit from the Olympics 2008 was disheartening for all badminton fans of Susilo.
Xing Aiying
Xing Aiying was the player of the moment leading up to Beijing. She surprised everyone at the Singapore Open 2008 when she defeated England’s Tracey Hallam in a stunning 21-14 21-12 victory. Then came another surprise for Singapore fans when she defeated Hong Kong’s favourite girl Yip Pui Yin in the Indonesian Badminton Open 2008 in straight sets with a score of 21-13 21-13. Her victories did not just end right there. Xing Aiying went on to defeat Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi in the SCG Thailand Open 2008, 21-16, 11-21, 21-18.
However, Xing Aiying failed to shine at the Beijing Olympics 2008. She lost to Olga Konon of Belarus in straight sets, 19-21, 12-21. It was a shocking first round exit for Singapore fans as Olga Konon is ranked #30, six places below Xing Aiying at #24.
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hi….i want to be singapore badmiton playerlol…..
i think we should stop using foreign talents ! we should put in our efforts on our local players. foreign players have disappointed us on many occasions.we should stick to our own local badminton players.maybe they can produce better results.our foreign badminton players are not doing well at all.
6 places lower is nothing much. no need to make it seem like a huge disappointment.