New threat

Despite Lin's return to form and the team winning four gold medals, the Masters Cup was not perfect for coach Li. The women's doubles team, hot favorites for a win whenever they play, was beaten by Indonesia in the final.

Lilyana Natsir and Vita Marissa came back against fifth seeds Zhao Tingting and Yang wei to win the title.

"The loss is a very good lesson for us and lets us know we should never take success for granted," said Li. "Women's doubles should be our safest event as there are so many all-Chinese finals in major events, including the Olympic Games. Taking four golds out of five is already a very good result for everybody, but we should have taken all of them. We have swept the tournament a number of times before.

"There was a lot of wind during the final. I am not complaining about the facility, but I think the players' ability to adjust was not good enough."

Olive branch

Li held out an olive branch to retired player Chen Hong, who competed in the Masters Cup as an unattached player

The world No 2, who quit the national team after being omitted from last December's Asian Games, came out of retirement in April but has not competed for China since.

Aware of the possibility that Chen might switch his allegiance to another team, Li held out an olive branch to Chen saying the resurgent player could still make the Olympic team.

"If he can maintain this level, and earn enough Olympic qualifying points, then he still has a chance to represent the national team at next year's Olympics," he said of Chen, who last week won the Thailand Open in Bangkok. "The Chinese sports system is different from the rest of the world," said the coach. "Chen is the first badminton free agent from China."

But Chen has no intention of coming back.

"Life has been better since I resigned from the national team in February," said Chen, who has played badminton since the age of 9 and had been on the national team for 10 years.

"I can still play the sport I love and I can also enjoy my life."

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