The love between the two "golden couples" could be crowned by an Olympic gold medal, only if their hopes are not dashed by Danish Tine Rasmussen, the greatest challenge to the reigning Chinese women shuttlers.
Rasmussen snatched three champions in Badminton World Federation's Super Series in 2008, and is now ranked No.4, overtaking defending Olympic champion Zhang Ning.
"I think the ladies' singles is very open," the 1.80-meter tall Dane said. "I have a lot of confidence and I will be there to fight for everything."
Danish men's doubles were once the hottest gold medal hopes in Athens, but now have surrendered their leading role to Indonesia's world No. 1 pair Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan and world No.2, South Korea's Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung, the favorites in Beijing due to their age advantage and Lee's extraordinary talent.
World champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng are also real competitors in this event, however, it is still the toughest hurdle for China to achieve the clean sweep in August.
On the contrary, the women's doubles gold is very much within the reach of the Chinese, who have occupied the top three seats on the ranking list for several years.
Defending champions Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen won't repeat the errors they made at the Uber Cup in Jakarta, where they lost to South Korean rivals Lee Hyo Jung and Lee Kyung Won in a tough game.
Their compatriots Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen, Du Jing and Yu Yang, will help them to secure the most-anticipated gold which has been won by the Chinese for three consecutive Olympics.
Two-time Olympic champion Gao Ling is struggling to win the third gold in Beijing, which will make her the first shuttler to clinch gold medals in three consecutive Olympic Games, and thus a historic figure.
But this time, Gao Ling faces much huger challenge in mixed doubles, not only for her young and immature partner Zheng Bo, and also for the rapidly fledging Indonesian pairs Liliyana Natsir and Nova Widianto, Vita Marissa and Flandy Limpele, who are ranked No.1 and No. 3 respectively.
The British pair Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson and the South Korean pair Lee Hyo Jung and Lee Yong Dae could never be ignored as well.
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2008)
