Soon the finals of the World Championships will start in Paris. Who may call him or herself World champion and who should be satisfied with a silver medal to take home. No less than three finals are completely Chinese, other nationalities are Indonesia and Malaysia. Will the Malaysian pair Koo / Tan drag in the first gold medal at a World Championship ever for Malaysia?
In the mixed doubles Zheng Bo and Ma Jin meet He Hanbin and Yu Yang. They never played an official match against each other and it is therefore difficult to say who is going to win. In any case, both couples have never been world champion before and this means that this confrontation will be even more exciting.
The men’s singles final is between the former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and the Chinese Chen Jin. Last year the latter won the silver medal after losing from his teammate Lin Dan, but already early in this tournament he has said he was going to be the new world champion. Taufik plays this tournament as usual. Because of his fabulous technique, he can conjure with the shuttle. It will be a magnificent match we’ll all love to watch!
The ladies final is between Wang Lin and Wang Xin. In 2 common encounters they both won once. It is hard to say who will win this match, but in my opinion Wang Lin has made a very strong impression this tournament. Both players are still young and very ambitious and will be eager to conquer the coveted world title.
Until now the women’s doubles have developed according to my earlier prediction. The bronze medallists were predicted and the numbers one and two of the seedinglist have reached the finals. Ma Jin and Yu Yang will be facing each other for the second time with their respective partners Wang Xiaoli and Du Jing. Although Du / Yu have a 4-1 lead in the common encounters I still think that the numbers one of the world have the better end of the stick.
Finally and probably the best match to watch, will be the men’s doubles final between the numbers one of the world Koo / Tan from Malaysia and two-time world champions and Olympic silver medallists Fu / Cai from China. In their common encounters it is 5-3 in favour of the Chinese, but Koo and Tan have come to Paris with only one objective: to become world champion. Fu and Cai have played only a few matches this year and momentarily they are ranked 28 but from the beginning I have had a feeling that they would win the world title again. Last May in the Thomas Cup Finals they won in two easy games of the Malaysians and also today I think they are the favourites. One thing is certain, there will be fireworks on the center court this afternoon!