“We faced a very tough opponent but we concentrated on each point, one by one”, said Hui.
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Rule changes in certain sports had also had an impact and China realised that it had not kept up with overseas developments and innovation trends in some sports, he said. Lang Ping captured an Olympic title with the 1984 Chinese national team in Los Angeles then later spent a four-year stint coaching the Americans.
Badminton powerhouse China has long dominated the sport, but its poor return of just two gold medals at the Rio Olympics marks a sea change as its stranglehold loosens. This was also a far cry from its record haul of 51 golds when it hosted the Games in Beijing 2008.
He also said the country would continue its strong anti-doping stance and would improve its education and supervision of athletes, after Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi was disqualified from the Games for use of the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide.
Spain’s Susana Rodriguez and Patricia Rolf of the USA made the first all-female referee tandem for an Olympic gold-medal match.
China took a 23-22 lead in the fourth set when Ting Zhu’s kill sent Maja Ognjenovic to the floor with a hard ball to the face, and the match was over shortly thereafter.
As the Rio Games came to a close yesterday, athletes are making their way home, and the lucky ones have some precious cargo with them-Olympic medals. You never know, our young players, at the beginning of the tournament we didn’t play well.
“Our young players did not play well at the beginning, but they did at the important moment”.
That poor return played a major role in China slipping behind Great Britain to finish third in the medals table – the first time they have finished outside the top two since the Sydney Games in 2000.
The Chinese had much more fight still in them.
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The United States won bronze after beating the Netherlands 25-23 25-27 25-22 25-19, a consolation for the world’s top-ranked team – which fell to Serbia in the semifinals – in its pursuit of an elusive gold.
