Badminton: Chinese world title hopes given boost

China will go into the World Championships in May with high hopes after winning four of the five All-England titles at the National Indoor Area in Birmingham on Saturday, but fans will not want a repeat of the women's final.

Gong Zhichao, seeded No 2 and seen as a rising star, bowed out in 19 minutes, beaten 11-1, 11-3 by Ye Zhaoying, the world champion but seeded only joint third. The 19-year-old Gong had beaten Susi Susanti earlier in the week and looked a capable performer, but on Saturday her form deserted her. Ye was untroubled as Gong constantly hit too long or too wide in what was a huge let-down for the 5,500 crowd.

Whatever the disappointment for the fans, though, it was virtually guaranteed to be China's day. For the first time in the tournament's 87- year history both sets of singles finalists were Chinese, and they also took the women's and mixed doubles titles.

In the men's singles, Dong Jiong, the Olympic silver medallist, beat his compatriot Sun Jun 15-9, 15-5, but China's most successful player was the highly efficient Ge Fei. She and Gu Jun beat Eliza and Resiana Zelin of Indonesia 15-6, 15-9 to retain their women's doubles crown. Ge then teamed up with Liu Yong in the mixed to beat the top seeds, Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia, 15-10, 15-2.

The only title not to go to the Chinese was the men's doubles, in which the South Koreans, Ha Tae-kwon and Kang Kyung-jin, beat the Danish pair, Jon Holst-Christensen and Michael Sogaard, 15-11, 17-16, in the best match of the afternoon.