China won all the five titles at the Yonex World Championships at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium in Paris, a feat they have achieved only once at the World Championships in 1987 at Beijing.
Having won the men and women’s singles, as well as the women’s and mixed doubles titles, only the men’s doubles pair was left to be won. And standing in the way of the Chinese pairing of Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng was world number one and top seeds Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong from Malaysia.
It was heartbreak for the Malaysians who were hoping to end the barren run of their country since its inception as no Malaysian had won at the world meet.
Try as they did to stop the red army, the Malaysians were no match for the Chinese pair, who came from a set down to win 18-21,21-18, 21-14 in 62 minutes.
“We tried our best and are sad that we failed to deliver the medal for Malaysia,” said Tan.
“They were very strong in defence and try as we did to break them, we were unable to do it.”
Cai/Fu raced to an early lead of 8-6 but the Malaysians were undeterred ad fought back to level at 9-9. And they were neck to neck with the Malaysians leading 11-10 at the break, the first time they were in the lead for the set.
Koo/Tan then broke away to lead 16-12, but Cai/Fu started attacking relentlessly and Koo made a costly miss when the score was 16-15 to allow the Chinese to draw level.
They were tied at 18-18 but the Malaysians won the next three points to take the first set 21-18 in 18 minutes.
In the second set they two pairs were level at 5-5 but Cai/Fu then broke away to lead 10-7. At the break the Chinese held an 11-10 advantage. The Chinese pair then raced to a 17-12 lead and had the set within their grasp. And they went on to win the second 21-18 to force the decider.
The third was no different as Cai/Fu raced to a 7-2 lead and never looked back as they wrapped up the set 21- 13 and completed their hattrick, having won in 2006 and 2009.
“It is always good to win and it is extra special as we ensured China won all the titles here,” said Cai Yun.
In the women’s singles, former world number one Wang Lin beat back the challenge of fellow Chinese Wang Xin in the final 21-11, 19-21, 21-14 to clinch the world championships title in 58 minutes.
It seemed that the final would be an easy affair for the former top ranked player after she had easily won the first game but the Chinese number three seed Wang Xin fought back in the second game to win 21-19 and take the match into a decider.
After matching her initially in the decider, Wang Xin lost steam and let Wang Lin run away with the match.
In the women’s doubles, top seeds Ma Jin/Wang Xioli of China lost to the second seeded pairing of Du Jing/Fu Yang 9-21, 17-21.
The defeat dashed the hopes of Ma Jin of winning two titles at the world championship, having won the mixed doubles event earlier in the day partnering Zheng Bo.
