Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong of USA could not withstand the barrage of shots coming from the 2006 World Champion tandem of Cai Yun/Fu HaiFeng as they were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics today. Final score is 21-9, 21-10 and took only 29 minutes.

The US tandem from California had high hopes before the campaign, but their quest for gold is considered an impossible task by many. Had Tony Gunawan got his citizenship papers on time, chances of winning at least a medal would have been greater. Bach and Gunawan won the World Championships in 2005.

Photo credits: Badmintonsite.com

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Badminton’s Men’s Singles Athens Gold Medalist and pride of Indonesia, Taufik Hidayat, lost to Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia in the round of 32, 19-21; 16-21. Taufik reportedly suffered dengue fever weeks before the tournament.

This could be the last Olympics for Taufik who has been sliding in the ranks in 2007 and this year. He has been my favorite player ever since he won the Olympic gold four years ago.

In the mixed doubles event, another defending champion gets ousted. Gao Ling of China, a four-time gold medalist in the previous two Olympics, finally had her winning run come to an end. Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson, Athens Silver Medalists of Great Britain, exacted revenge on Gao Ling and new partner, Zheng Bo, 21-16, 16-21, 21-19.

Fours years ago, Gao Ling partnered with Zhang Jun to defeat the British pair to snatch the gold. It’s really a sorry loss for lady shuttler who is also one of my favorites from the Chinese Team.

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The tandem of Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong of the USA demolished Chris and Roelof Dednam of South Africa 21-10 and 21-16 to move towards the quarterfinals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The match lasted only 20 minutes.

If you can remember, the high-flying Howard Bach partnered with Tony Gunawan to win the World Championships in Anaheim, California in 2005. That was a first for the US in this sport mostly lorded over by Asians. It bolstered the sports popularity in the US since it was covered by ESPN. Most of the US team members are of Asian descent. Gunawan, on the other hand, is a former world champion donning the Indonesia colors. I wonder why he is not in the Olympics.

Cheers to the US team! And may they last long in this tourney.

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China is the current powerhouse in badminton and beating any player or duo is already like winning the title. Below is the team that they sent to Beijing:

Men’s Singles:
1. Lin Dan (no.1)
2. Bao Chunlai (no. 3)
3. Chen Jin (no.4)

Women’s Singles:
1. Xie XingFang (no.1)
2. Lu Lan (no. 2)
3. Zhang Ning (no.5)

Men’s Doubles:
1. Fu Haifeng / Cai Yun (no.2)
2. Guo Zhendong / Xie Zhongbo (no. 6)

Women’s Doubles:
1. Yang Wei / Zhang Jiewen (no.1) (recently eliminated in three sets by Maeda Miyuki and Suetsuna Satoko (no.8) of Japan)
2. Du Jing/ Yu Yang (no. 2)
3. Zhang Yawen / Wei Yili (no. 3)

Mixed Doubles:
1. Zheng Bo / Gao Ling (no.2)
2. He Hanbin / Yu Yang (no.5)

The closest threats to the Chinese Badminton Team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics are the following:

Men’s Singles:
1. Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia, no.2)
2. Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia, no.7 and defending Olympic Champion)

Women’s Singles:
1. Tine Rasmussen (Denmark, no. 4)

Men’s Doubles:
1. Markis Kido/ Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia, no.1)
2. Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae (Republic of Korea, no. 3)

Mixed Doubles:
1. Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia, no.1)
2. Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa (Indonesia, no. 3)

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Badminton may not be popular in the US or in most countries of Europe but it is very popular in China and in most of Asia. The badminton venues are the first to sell out in Beijing having only less than 8000 seats available.

The top players are from China, led by the lovey-dovey Lin Dan and Xie Xinfang, ranked no.1 in Men’s Single and Ladies’ Single. Plenty of Chinese are seeded on top. And it seems like they’re going to sweep all titles.

But anything goes in this Olympics, just like the fancied jinx that none of the top seeds of the men’s single ever won the gold in Olympics history. In Athens, 10th ranked Ronald Susilo of Singapore, stunned top ranked Lin Dan. In Sydney, no.1 seed Taufik Hidayat was sent packing early. He later won it in Athens when was ranked in the middle.

My bets for this Olympics are:
MS – Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia)
WS – Xie Xinfang (China)
MD – Indonesia
LD – China
XD – Indonesia

I think this year’s battle will still be China vs Indonesia.

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There will be three Holidays for Cebu this month of August, and two for the rest of the country. Today, August 6, 2008 is the 439th founding anniversary of the province of Cebu. So, it’s a non-working holiday in this side of the world.

Here is the rest of the holidays in the Philippines for the year 2008:

A. Regular Holidays:

Maundy Thursday – March 20 (Thursday)
Good Friday – March 21 (Friday)
Araw ng Kagitingan – April 7 (Monday nearest to April 9)
Labor Day – May 1 (Thursday)
Independence Day – June 9 (Monday nearest to June 12)
National Heroes Day – August 25 (Last Monday of August)
Bonifacio Day – December 1 (Monday nearest to November 30)
Christmas Day – December 25 (Thursday)
Rizal Day – December 30 (Tuesday)

B. Special Non-Working Days:

Ninoy Aquino Day – August 18 (Monday nearest to August 21)
All Saints Day – November 1 (Saturday)
Additional special non-working day – December 26 (Friday)
Additional special non-working day – December 29 (Monday)
Last Day of the Year – December 31 (Wednesday)

C. Eidul Fitre – A separate proclamation declaring this as a National Holiday shall be issued by the Office of the President.

With all the holidays schedule, workers can now plan how to spend these days.

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