Bao Chunlai: I Want Beijing Olympic Gold Medal of Badminton

I have written a few articles about Bao Chunlai. To the fans’ doubt about him, he clearly indicated that he was confident to scoop the title of 2008 Olympic Badminton Games and did not have any fear of finals.

I am not fearful of finals

In the recent international badminton tournaments, Bao has entered the finals for more than 10 times. But he was changed to another person once competing in the finals especially in the battle against his compatriot Lin Dan. He had so many lose to the latter. What’s the reason?

In Bao’s opinion, the root cause of his failures was his formulary of thought formed in years of matches.

“I was given the mission to keep foreigner badminton players out of finals to insure the title belonged to China before. In general, the missions were accomplished with my great effort. With the time going by, formulary was formed in my mind that a spot of final was my success. So I could not find myself in the competition for champions.

The coaches in Chinese badminton team including head coach Li Yonbo had the opinion that Bao did not have any problem in terms of badminton techniques. He was skilled enough to beat any other one in the world. Lin Dan and he were called binary star of Chinese team.

The performance stability was Bao’s advantage and disadvantage as well. It meant less error on the court and less threat on the other side. It was not fair that some people owed his down to the lack of experience and frailty. As long as he has more confidence and more power to win the key points, Bao will have more titles.

The insider of badminton has even said as follows.

“If Bao had did 75 percent work as in the semi-fianl in final, the title would have been his.”

I have a strong desire for Olympic title.

Bao is one of the players who have the power to be champion in OG, but not the favorite. To reply to the discussion of media and fans, Bao said that the key factor for his breakthrough lies in himself.

“I lost many games, but I do not lose my heart. I will be back to square one. And I hope to prove me with outstanding behavior in Beijing Olympic Games.”

Not a long time ago, Bao said to his coach Li Yongbo that he was confident to compete with other top players for the Olympic champion.

“The more confident you are, the more confidence the people around you have in you. So long as I do good job on the court, who can tell me that I have no chance to win?”

His compatriot Lin Dan has been edging him for a long time. But Bao does not consider him inferior to the world champion.

“Lin Dan is my close friend. I was beaten by him again and again. But it did not mean that he was more excellent than me. I have more potential. I have the full confidence to let the title come to China together with Lin Dan in Beijing.”

In Frecnch Open, Bao ended the miserable cycle of failing facing Lin Dan by beating the latter in 3 games. Bao thought he should make progress in both speed and strength.

“I am taller than other opponents that I control more place on the court easily. But my explosive power is not enough. I failed to win the key points due to stamina, which made an impression to badminton fans that I did not have iron willpower in the clash. In fact, there are little advantage to each other between Lin Dan and me. The winner is the one who persist to the last second.”

Olympic torch bearer is my dream.

On Nov 15th, Li Yongbo, Cai Yun, Fu Haifeng, Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang, Gao Ling and he were nominated to be the torch bearer. It brought Bao great honor to be the flagman of Chinese delegation in Asian Games.

“I am eager to be the Olympic torch bearer. What a wonderful thing for me!”

Bao believed that it did not influence his preparation for Olympic Games to apply for the torch bearer.

“I am good at running, so I am quite qualified for it.”

But each torch bearer only needs to run a few hundred meters. Someone intends to run very slowly to prolong the memorable time.

Knowing this, Bao made fun to us: “I would run at the opposite direction that I never reach the destination.”