Chinese duo Zhang/Zhao win mixed doubles at

All England Open

each pocketing 50,000 dollars prize money and driving home

a Volkswagen Tiguan car.

BIRMINGHAM, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese pair Zhang

Nan/Zhao Yuneli defeated Olympic runners-up Nova
Widianto/Liliyana Natsir from Indonesia to clinch the title of
mixed doubles at the 100th All England Open Badminton
Championships here on Sunday.

The younthy Chinese duo barely met challenges making their

way through to the top podium, as the 21-year-old Ma got
crowned losing only one sets in three matches and Liu, who
turns 19 years in two weeks, went on with all 4-1 victories.

Zhang Nan (2nd R) and Zhao Yunlei of China cele

brate on the podium after the mixed
doubles final of 2010 All England Open Badminto
n Championships in Birmingham,
Britain, March 14, 2010. Zhang and Zhao defeate
d Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir
of Indonesia by 2-1.(Xinhua/Zeng Yi)
All England Open debutants Zhang and Zhao fought through
the qualification with two wins and astonishingly defeated two
time world champions Widianto and Natsir in a tough final.
"This is the second time that we paired up to compete and
every match was tough," said the 23-year-old Zhao, who also
reached the women's doubles final with partner Cheng Shu.
"We got nothing to lose. Actually, we were less skilful than
our experienced rivals in the final, but we kept good mentality
and has never given up whenever we were behind."
Zhang and Zhao trailed behind since 3:3 but managed to equal
their seasoned rivals in 18-18. Then the new pair grabbed
three points in a row , winning the first game in 21-18.
In the second game, the Chinese duo came from 10-5 behind
to 10-10, but failed to grabbed the victory as Widianto and
Natsir took one game back in 25-23 after equalling for 11
times with Zhang and Zhao.
Zhang and Zhao still struggled in the first half of the deciding
game but managed to beat their rivals in 21-18.

Maze edges past Wang Liqin 3-2 at Table

tennis challenge
The Annual Asia-Europe table tennis all-star challenge has
kicked off in Beijing. China's former world No.1 Wang Liqin
heads the Asian side.
But in the first round, Joo Se Hyuk of South Korea led the
encounter with 2003 world champion Werner Schlager. The
South Korean giving the Asian side the first round win. Then,
the former No.1 Wang Liqin faced Super Dane Michael Maze.
Maze got a good start going 2-1 ahead. Wang Liqin tried to
fight back in the 4th game, but his forehand mistake gave
Maze another game win. The Dane never looked back, taking
the last game and the match 3-2.
In the last two rounds - Jun Mizutani of Japan and Yang Zi of
Singapore took on former European champion Vladimir
Samsonov of Belarus and Jorgen Prsson. But the Asian's poor
performance handed

their rivals the match win. Europe

would boss proceedings taking a 4-1 overall lead on day one.

Chinese world No.1 paddlers crowned at
table tennis Volkswagen Cup
GUANGZHOU, South China, March 30 (Xinhua) -- World
No. 1 paddlers Ma Long and Liu Shiwen claimed the men's
and women's titles of the inaugural Volkswagen Cup in China,

Facing South Korea's former world runner-up Joo Se Hyuk in

the men's singles final, Ma, who was the bronze medalist at
the 2009 world championships but has not yet guaranteed a
spot in the Chinese men's squad for the team worlds in
Moscow in May, left no room of errors against his defensive
style rival and won it 11-3, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-4.
Ma breezily beat the 2003 world champion Werner Schlager
of Austria and the reigning European champion Michael Maze
of Denmark 4-0 in a row to set up the final against Joo, who
rallied past Japan's Jun Mizutani 4-2 in the semis after
surprisingly ousting Germany's world No. 2 Timo Boll
Monday evening in five sets.
On the women's side, Liu, who's a Liaoning native but plays
for Guangdong province, seemed a little bit distracted as she
won the Asian Cup just two days ago, but was still in the
league of her own, nailing down Dutch Li Jiao, chopper Kim
Kyung Ah of South Korea and Singapore's Feng Tian Wei one
after another to take the title.
Being a B-class event of the sport's governing body ITTF, the
Volkswagen 2010 Cup attracted a surprising big package of
table tennis elites from all over the world with a total of
250,000 U.S. dollars, a much higher prize money rate than
some of the ProTour Opens.
Also the Volkswagen Cup offered cute games with Spectacular
Pairs lining up for gala, as well as a unique fasion show of
table tennis outfit lines designed by Japan's Naomi Yotsumoto,
nicknamed "Lady Gaga in Ping Pang" for her hyperbolic style
of wearings during some national competitions of Japan.
Right before Ma and Liu's title winning finals on Tuesday
evening, Belgian brothers Jean-Michel and Philippe Saive,
who made their names to table tennis world in 1990s, took the
trophy of the spectacular pairs competition after their creative
and fun performance beating a host of celebrity names
including China's Guo Yuehua and Sweden's Jurgen Persson.
The event's sponsors Volkswagen even prepared a total of
15,000 dollars to reward the spectacular pairs event's winners
and runners-up in order to encourage the participation and to
entertain the audience.
According to the organizers, the Volkswagen Cup will be
made an annual event and will insist on adding the
entertainments to the serious competitions.

Feng eased past former Chinese Seok Ha Jung, who has

played for South Korea for three years, 11-7, 11-4, 11-9, 1210, while the Shanghai native Xu saw off Hong Kong's Ko Lai
Chak 11-5, 11-7, 11-3, 11-8.
The annual Asian Cup features top 16 men and women players
and offers a total prize money of 120,000 U.S. dollars with the
champions each pocketing 10,000 dollars.

Sweet wins for China's rising star couple

at Asian Cup
GUANGZHOU, March 28 (Xinhua) -- China's teenage
sensation Liu Shiwen claimed her first Asian Cup crown here
on Sunday, just minutes before her boyfriend Zhang Jike
pocketed the men's singles title on the same court.
The world championships bronze medalist Liu, who will turn
19 years old in two weeks, rallied past fellow Chinese Ding
Ning 11-5, 11-2, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-2 for the women's
trophy.
Overwhelming in the first two sets, Liu met some strong
challenges from Ding, especially on the latter's trademark
services, but the Liaoning native, who moved to Guangdong
province in her childhood, managed to again pull herself
together in the fifth set.
"I told myself during the decisive fifth set that I must do well
in receiving her serve with whatever method," said Liu. "I
remember nothing but that and came over the difficulties
eventually."
Trailing 3-0 in the sixth set, Ding called herself a timeout and
came back to pull back a point on service, but Liu barely
commit an error and played an 8-1 run to wrap up the match
11-5, 11-2, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-2.
In the men's final, Zhang, who did not win a major event
before, crushed Singapore's Gao Ning 11-9, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7
for the title.
"It took quite a lot of me to get on the top podium here,"
commented Zhang. "I qualified for the knockout stage after
finishing second in my group ,and had to win over Olympic
champion Ma Lin to make the semifinals. It's definitely not
easy."
"After losing to Hong Kong's Ko Lai Chak in a group match, I
said to myself, 'Be a man and nail the title!' And now I can say
'yeah, I made it!'" added the 20-year-old.
Earlier this month, Zhang just sealed a spot in the Chinese
squad for May's World Team Championships in Moscow after
winning the second trial of the national team.
Also on Sunday evening, Singapore's top woman paddler Feng
Tian Wei and China's 20-year-old Xu Xin claimed the
women's and men's singles bronze medals after each winning
in straight sets.

Ateneo stuns fancied La Salle, wins 1st

UAAP volleyball title
MANILA, Philippines -- The Ateneo Lady Eagles have finally
landed on top of the UAAP volleyball.
Ateneo won its first ever league title in women's volleyball in
style dethroning last season's champion and arch-rival La Salle
in a stunning three-set sweep, 25-23, 26-24, 25-21, on
Saturday before a loud 21,314 crowd at the Mall of Asia
Arena.
The Lady Eagles came out of nowhere to steal the crown from
the Lady Archers, who were tipped to win a record fourth
league title after winning 30 straight games heading to the
finals.
But Ateneo, which had to survive Adamson at the onset of the
stepladder semifinals and shocked fancied NU twice to earn a
shot at mighty La Salle in the finals waged one big fight and
was fittingly rewarded in the end.
The Lady Eagles' confidence grew larger in each of the five
do-or-die matches they have won culminating in this one-sided
Game Four.
Season MVP Alyssa Valdez completed Ateneo's magical
season scoring the last three points to add the Finals MVP to
her growing collection of awards which also included the best
scorer and best server.
Valdez finished with 21 points leading the Lady Eagles to an
improbable upset overcoming the thrice-to-beat advantage of
their rivals.
The unexpected three-set sweep in Game Four was fueled by
Ateneo's fightback from seven-point deficit to grab the second
set.
Rookie Michele Morente and Ella de Jesus also contributed in
double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Lady Archers, who were dumbfounded in the finals, drew
11 points from last season's co-MVP Ara Galang. La Salle's
other MVP Aby Marano was nowhere near her top form as she
ended her UAAP stint with a lackluster five-point
performance.