Surprises and three titles for Chinese shuttlers

 　　BIRMINGHAM, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Curtains of the All England Open were down on Sunday, with badminton powerhouse China bagging surprises and three titles.

　　At the men's singles event, Chinese player Chen Long beat No. 1 seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia to win himself the first title in this prestigious¹ tournament.

　　He fought two sets to finish the task, but the match cost an hour with long rallies and fast exchanges. They ran, jump and sweat, while the spectators cheered and waved national flags.

　　Chen collected seven points in a row before Lee could impose challenge to him. The latter seemed impatient, making several mistakes and trailed 5-11 by the interval².

　　Back to court, the 31-year-old twice champion tried to dominate, cutting the deficit³ to just two points with quick smashes and clears with landing points well calculated.

　　Chen, standing⁴ at 1.88 meters tall, maneuvered⁵ the shots to different angles to have his opponent run as much as possible. At last Lee lashed⁶ the shuttle into the net to lose the set 17-21.

　　The Chinese player started well again in the second set, enjoying a comfortable lead of 11-6 at the interval. But a sharper Lee managed to fight back. The duo soon got tied from 14-14 to 18-18. The crowd was sizzling.

　　The 24-year-old Chen then got the match point after a diagonal killer⁷ and a lapse⁸ of the Malaysian. He grasped the chance to speed up attacks. Lee served the shuttle to the net again, letting the chance of his third All England Open title slip away.

　　However, this is no surprise at all compared with the victory of Chinese up-and-coming men's doubles players Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan.

　　The duo who seemed to be from nowhere stunned⁹ many by upsetting world's No. 1 seeds, Danish Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, and knocking out eighth seeded Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia before entering the final.

　　But in men's doubles final Sunday afternoon, when they beat the fourth seeded Japanese pair Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa overwhelmingly, the world was amazed to see two fledgling shuttlers rising perhaps from here.

　　This result was unexpected even to them. "We have prepared for the worst, but the victory came easier than I thought," Qiu told Xinhua.

　　Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli walked out of the shadow of "match-throwing scandal" and defeated their compatriots Cheng Shu/Zhao Yunlei to claim women's doubles title.

　　"The unhappy memories belong to the past, but we chose to stay on the court any way. We are at a new starting point and will keep working for a better result," said Yu.

　　But surprise was not always good.

　　Chinese mixed doubles players Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, Olympic gold-medallists, were overpowered by defending champions Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir from Indonesia.

　　In women's singles event, for the first time in 18 years no Chinese shuttlers survived the quarter-final. World champions Li Xuerui and Wang Yihan fell at the first hurdle¹⁰, and their teammates Han Li and Jiang Yanjiao were edged out in the second round.

　　The 23-year-old Wang Shixian, All England champion in 2011, surrendered to world's No.3 seed, Indian Saina Nehwal after what was perhaps the longest battle during this tournament.

　　Finally the trophy¹¹ fell into hands of Danish veteran Tine Baun, who had announced to retire after the All England Open. This third title could definitely bring a magical finish to her career.

1 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

2 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

3 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 maneuvered   

v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵

参考例句：

• I maneuvered my way among the tables to the back corner of the place. 我在那些桌子间穿行，来到那地方后面的角落。 来自辞典例句
• The admiral maneuvered his ships in the battle plan. 舰队司令按作战计划进行舰队演习。 来自辞典例句

6 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

9 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

10 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

11 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。