Chinese badminton head coach Li Yongbo.[File Photo]

Chinese coach Li Yongbo praised his team for surpassing expectations at the Madrid world championships which ended on Sunday.

Li had challenged the team to better the two golds, four silver and one bronze taken at the last world championships. They finished with four of the five gold medals at stake in Madrid.

"Due to limits on the number of players at the tournament, the level of competition was greater than before and the achievement was even less easy," Li told the China News Service agency.

Li particularly praised top-seeded men's doubles pair Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.

"This perfect performance should really lift their confidence in preparing for the Olympic Games," Li said.

He also said China had proved its superiority in the women's doubles where Gao Ling and Huang Sui beat Zhang Yawen and Wei Yili in an all-Chinese final.

"Although we might drop the odd match, our overall superiority is unassailable," he said.

Li was less pleased with the mixed doubles - the only event in which Chinese hegemony was broken at the championships, after Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms beat Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg to win gold in an all-English final.

"I believe they didn't play their best. In principle, there should have been at least one team to break into the semifinals," Li said.