(Beijing, October 14) The 2007 International Badminton Invitational Tournament held at Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium this morning produced five bronze and one gold medals, with Zhang Yawen/Xie Zhongbo winning the gold medal in the mixed doubles. The bronze medals went to Zhao Tingting/Xu Chen in the mixed doubles, Tien Minh Nguyen in the men's singles, Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen in the women's doubles and Xu Chen/Sun Junjie in the mixed doubles respectively.

As top seed Zhang Ning pulled out of the women's singles semifinals due to injury, Zhu Jingjing who had lost to Xie Xingfang in the semifinal yesterday got the bronze medal without having to play. Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, as the only foreign player at the tournament, succeeded in clinching the bronze medal in the men's singles. In the mixed doubles final, No. 2 seed Zhang Yawen/Xie Zhongbo outplayed top-seeded Gao Ling/Zheng Bo to claim the gold medal.

Judging by these bronze-medal matches, victory came mainly from greater technical strength. Beating Hong Jingyu/Bao Zilong and Wang Yuting/Liu Shanshan in the mixed doubles and women's doubles respectively, Zhao Tingting and Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen invariably enjoyed technical superiority over their respective opponents. In the men's singles, however, as the two players were well-matched in strength, tactics, game experience and mental quality played an important role in the win. Li Yu admitted that with great mental pressure in face of Tien Minh Nguyen, he failed to control his service well as he grew impatient at the end of the deciding game. Otherwise, as he put it, he would have won the match and the medal.

The mixed doubles final turned out to be a surprise win for world No. 3 Zhang Yawen/Xie Zhongbo over world No. 1 Gao Lin/Zheng Bo. The latter seemed not to be in form and too many errors in both attack and defense resulted in their defeat and cost them the much coveted gold medal.