Badminton in China
中国羽毛球运动
In ancient China, there was a badminton-like game. In this game, the players served a decorated ball like serving a shuttlecock. The first badminton association in the world is the UK Badminton Association founded in 1893. It's the start of modern badminton sport. At that time, there're not many nations joining in the International Badminton Association, which made some international badminton matches aren't the real world-level matches. This situation had lasted till the International Badminton Federation was founded in Hong Kong in 1978. Then the 1st and the 2nd World Badminton Championships were held, in which Chinese players won 8 gold medals. This indicated that China had reached the world-level in badminton at that time. China National Badminton Team is one of the strongest teams in the world, and it has many outstanding players. The indonesia National Badminton Team and the China National Badminton Team have had advantages in badminton skills since 1970s. China National Badminton Team won the gold medal when they took part in The Thomas Cup in 1982 for the first time. Their skills were greatly praised in the world.
中国古代有一种游戏，用木板拍击一个装饰的球这种球的玩法，颇似今日的羽毛球运动。1893年，世界上最早的羽毛球协会——英国羽毛球协会成立。这是近代羽毛球的开始。当时以中国为首的许多国家的羽毛球协会未能加入国际羽联，使一些国际性比赛相对逊色，没能真正体现世界级水平。直至1978年，在香港成立了”世界羽毛球联合会“（简称世界羽联），先后举办了两届世界羽毛球锦标赛，中国共荣获8项冠军，表明中国羽毛球运动已达到世界水平。现代中国羽毛球队是世界上的强队之一，人才辈出。70年代以来，男子羽毛球技术处于领先地位的是印尼队和中国队。1982年中国队首次参加汤姆斯杯赛就荣获冠军。中国队的技术受到了世界羽坛的普遍赞扬。
Now the "Young fighters" such as Lin Dan, Bao Chunlai, Chen Jin, Cai Shun and Fu Haifeng, have been main forces of the National Badminton Team at the latest two Thomas Cups. Lin Dan realized this world medallist dream at the 15th World Badminton Championships in Madrid. Lin Dan is a left-hand player. He mainly uses sudden attacks mixed with clear and drops, and always attack actively. His fast speed, nimble movement and good fall-point make his attacks sharp and threatening. He won his first world title at the World Badminton Championships by defeating Bao Chunlai in 2006. Then he and his teammates won the gold medal in men's team at The Thomas Cup at the same year. After that he won gold medals at the UK Open, the China Taipei Open, the China Hong Kong Open, the Macao Open, the World Badminton Championships, the China Open, the Badminton Championships, the China Open, and the Yiyang World Cup, and silver medal at the Malaysis Open.
林丹、鲍春来、陈金、蔡赟、付海峰等“年轻的老将”，已在最近两届汤杯赛中挑起中国队的大梁。林丹终于在第15届马德里世锦赛上把世界冠军的梦想变成了现实。
In China, women's badminton began at the 1950s and reached the world-level at the 1960s. At that time, women players such as Chen Yuniang. Liang Xiaomu and Liang Qiuxia, had defeated other world medallists at all kinds of matches by using men's players' skills. In 1980s, the China National Women's Badminton Team began to join in international matches with the Men's Team. The famous women players such as Zhang Ailing, Han Aiping and Li Lingwei, who were skillful, nimble, active and speedy, set a gold age in women's badminton skills and strategies in the world. At present, the representatives of the China National Women's Badminton Team are Xie Xingfang and Zhang Jiewen. Xie Xingfang won gold medal of women's doubles at the World Youth Badminton Championships in 1998, and won The Uber Cup with her teammates. She was one of the tops 8 at the Korea Open and the UK Open. At the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, China's Zhang Jiewen and Yang Wei won the gold medals in women's doubles by defeating their teammates Huang Sui and Gao Ling (7-15, 15-4, 15-8), which was the 17th gold medals China Delegation, and Huang Sui and Gao Ling won the silver medals. China National Badminton Team totally won three gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Zhang Jiewen used to cooperate with Wei Yili and won silver medal at the World Badminton Championships and the UK Open in 2001. After the Asian Games in 2002, she began to cooperate with Yang Wei. Soon after this, they ranked world No.3 and once World No.1. Then they won gold medals at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
林丹左手握拍，以拉吊突击为主打法，进攻意识强，场上速度快，进攻落点好，攻击犀利，步伐灵活，扣杀较具有威胁。2006年世锦赛上击败鲍春来，首次夺得男单世界冠军，2006年汤姆斯杯男团冠军成员，全英、中国台北、中国香港以及澳门公开赛冠军，马来西亚公开赛亚军，世锦赛男单冠军，中国公开赛、益阳世界杯冠军。
China, Indonesia and Japan National Badminton Teams are the strongest three teams in the world. China and Indonesia have won 70 percent titles of the International Badminton Federation since 1934. In China, badminton has been very popular. In the city of Guangzhou, it has been a requried course in many elementary schools. The China Badminton Open is a professional match, and it supplies a self-showing platform to numerous fanciers of badminton, and had really discovered many excellent badminton players. We can say that China's badminton development had made great contributions to the international badminton matches.
在女子方面，女子羽毛球从50年代起步，到60年代达到世界先进水平。当时以陈玉娘、梁小牧、梁秋霞为代表的中国女选手，学习男子技术动作，以快速、灵巧的技术在各种场合击败过世界冠军。到了80年代，中国女子羽毛球队和男子队一样，全面走向世界，以张爱玲、韩爱萍、李玲蔚等为代表的中国女队，技术全面、打法多变、主动积极、快速突击，开创了世界女子羽毛球技术与战术的全盛时期。而现代的中国女子羽毛球队以谢杏芳、张洁雯等为代表。谢杏芳为1998年世界青年羽毛球锦标赛女双冠军，2004年尤伯杯冠军成员；韩国公开赛八强；全英公开赛八强。2004雅典奥运会羽毛球女双决赛在古迪奥林匹克综合体育中心进行，经过激烈争夺，最终中国选手张洁雯/杨维在先失一局的情况下连扳两局，以总比分2：1（7：15，15：4，15：8）战胜另一对中国选手黄穗/高凌获得冠军，为中国代表团赢得了第17枚金牌，黄穗/高凌获得银牌。这使得中国羽毛球队在本届奥运会中取得了三金一银一铜的成绩。张洁雯与魏轶力合作，在2001年世锦赛和全英赛都取得了亚军。2002年亚运会后，张洁雯转而与杨维合作，不久世界排名就攀升到第三，并一度占据世界第一。2004年夺得雅典奥运会女双金牌。可以说是自1934年中国、印尼、日本三强鼎立以来，中国和印度尼西亚夺得了国际羽联70%的冠军头衔。在这个古老的东方国度，羽毛球已经成为一种很流行的运动，在广州有许多小学把羽毛球做为必修课。而中国羽毛球公开赛，这一专业赛事为更多年轻的羽毛球爱好者提供了一个展示自我的良好平台，也发掘出了大量的优秀年轻羽毛球员。可以说，近代中国的羽毛球运动为世界羽毛球比赛做出了很大的贡献。
。