London 2012 badminton: It's an all Chinese final in Mixed Doubles

London: One thing is certain in Friday’s badminton mixed doubles final: The gold is going to China. Top-ranked Zhang Nan and girlfriend Zhao Yunlei will face second-ranked Xu Chen and Ma Jin in the fourth all-Chinese final in Olympic badminton history. “I feel less pressure because it’s more certain China can win gold,” Ma said. Her partner Xu added: “It’s a really precious experience and honor for China and for ourselves as well. It’s four years, one chance, so obviously it’s precious.” Zhang and Zhao enter as the world and Asian champions, and having dominated Xu and Ma in the last 18 months. But Zhao wasn’t overconfident. [caption id=“attachment_403963” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  China’s Zhang Nan, left, and Zhao Yunlei, celebrate their win against Denmark’s Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Thomas Laybourn, unseen, at a mixed doubles badminton match. AP[/caption] “Our chances are 50-50,” she said. “We know them well as we are all in the Chinese team. We don’t have too high hopes as we know that in the final they are all very strong competitors. “At the moment we’re still calm, so we have to stay focused and get better prepared.” Both Chinese pairs came from a game down to win the semifinals on Thursday, leaving Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark and Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia to play for the bronze medal. Natsir won the mixed doubles silver medal in Beijing, and her’s and Ahmad’s defeat meant Indonesia will not win a badminton gold medal at an Olympics for the first time. AP