Hong Kong badminton coach Chan Chi-choi fears his players could be literally blown away at the World Championships starting today. The SAR's team of shuttlers arrived on Friday to prepare for their assault on the seven-day tournament at the 16,500-capacity Arrowhead Pond arena.
And Chan has wasted no time in voicing concern over playing conditions at the competition venue, the home of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks during the NHL ice-hockey season.
Chan said the powerful air-conditioning at Arrowhead Pond centre was causing shuttlecocks to swerve erratically in mid-flight and threatened to spoil the spectacle of the biennial extravaganza.
'You can see it quite clearly - the shuttle is moving around a lot because there is a lot of cross-wind caused by the air-conditioning,' Chan said. 'I'm going to raise it at the team managers' meeting to see if something can be done. It is the same for all teams but it is going to spoil the quality of the championships if the players can't follow the line of the shuttle.'
Similar problems dogged the 2001 World Championships in Seville, but Chan said he was surprised to see that US authorities had not taken it into account.
'It's not the first time America has hosted a major badminton tournament - the conditions at the competition in Atlanta [at the 1996 Olympics] were perfect.'
Hong Kong's challenge at a world championships, expected to be dominated by China, starts today when Li Wing-mui and Louisa Koon Wai-chee meet Icelandic duo Sara Jonsdottir and Ragna Ingolfsdottir in the opening round of the women's doubles.
