The IBF 2006 Badminton World Championship closed yesterday night in Madrid, Spain as the Chinese shuttlers grabbed four out of five golds on offer.

The only gold they dropped is the mixed doubles title which was clinched by Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms of Britain, the sport's birthplace.

The Chinese duo of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng made an example of the British pairing of Anthony Clark and Robert Blair 21-9, 21-13 in straight sets to win the men's doubles final, the last title up for grabs. They maintained a run of good form, closing out their counterparts, ending a 17-year-old gold drought in the event for China since Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi won the title in 1989.

Early last night, the wondrous men's singles final witnessed a 57-min seesaw clash between Lin Dan of China and his teammate Bao Chunlai. World No.1 Lin rallied from one game down to outplay Bao 18-21, 21-17 and 21-12, winning his first world championship title. The game is also the first all-China gold match in nine years.

Bao opened the match with a 3-1 lead. But Lin, who found his rhythm more slowly than his rival, used several flatter drives to tie the game at 5-5. After a balanced spell saw them teeter at 18-18, Bao erupted with several net strokes and powerful smashes to win 21-18.

The second game also twisted to a tie of 17-17, but this time it was Lin Dan who fastened his pace in the breath-taking rally making four consecutive drives to win 21-17.

Lin showed his confidence and strong will to win in the last game, making it 11-5 to the Time Out and extending his dominance despite several drop shots by Bao Chunlai.

"Losing to Taufik (Hidayat of Indonesia) in the final last time fully motivated me to win this match. Although I have won the World Cup title, the World Championship is more important," said Lin, who outsmashed Bao 34-19.

"I made a mistake when it was at 16-16 in the second game and it was the turning point of the match," commented Bao, adding, "But anyway I'm content with the silver medal."

Xie Xingfang, the reigning women's singles world champion and Lin Dan's girlfriend, also drank from the sweet keg of victory as she beat top-seeded compatriot Zhang Ning in the final 21-16, 21-14. Chinese World Championship debutant Jiang Yanjiao made it to the quarterfinals.
 
In women's doubles, China clinched all the four seats of the semis and veteran pair of Gao Ling and Huang Sui pocketed their third gold medal at the event in a row, crushing teammates Zhang Wei and Zhang Wenjie 23-21, 21-9.

China booked seven out of ten final berths in the five disciplines and took 4 golds, 3 silvers and 3 browns in total, a big leap than their achievements last time with 2 golds, 4 silvers and 1 browns.

The rest three spots were seized by the English players, who finally won the mixed doubles title as Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms beat their training partners Clark and Donna Kellogg 21-15, 21-12 in an all-English final, ending Britain's spell out in the cold since claiming the mixed doubles title in 1983.

The Champions:

Lin Dan (Men's Singles)

Xie Xingfang (R) (Women's Singles)

Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng (Men's Doubles)

Gao Ling and Huang Sui (Women's Doubles)

Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms (Mixed Doubles)

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, September 25, 2006)