PETALING JAYA: Four-time world badminton champion Lin Dan of China was surprisingly taken to the distance before checking into the men’s singles semi-finals at the German Open in Mulheim on Friday.
He had to toil for 54 minutes to beat Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark 21-19, 23-21 to set up a clash with Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto for a place in the final.
Lin Dan’s compatriot Chen Jin fared even worse when he was dumped out in the third round. He went down tamely at 9-21, 17-21 to Wong Wing Ki of Hong Kong and the defeat will certainly spoil his hope of making the cut for the London Olympic Games.
Chen Jin is ranked fifth in the world and he has to move at least one rung up to join two of his team-mates Lin Dan (world No. 2) and Chen Long (No. 3) to make the Games. A country can have the maximum three players if all of them are ranked in the top four.
Chen Jin, however, will get a chance for a quick revenge when meets Wing Ki in the opening round of the All-England in Birmingham on Wednesday.
QUARTER – FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) bt Ville Lang (Fin) 21-14, 21-14; Lin Dan (Chn) bt Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Den) 21-19, 23-21; Jan O Jorgensen (Den) bt Wong Wing Ki (Hkg) 21-17, 21-11; Simon Santoso (Ina) bt Shon Wan-ho (Kor) 19-21, 21-19, 23-21;
Men’s doubles: Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) bt Naoki Kawamae-Shoji Sato (Jpn) 21-14, 21-16; Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae (Kor) w.o. Kim Ki-jung-Kim Sa-rang (Kor); Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong (Kor) bt Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata (Jpn) 21-19, 21-12; Hong Wei-Shen Ye (Chn) bt Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 21-16, 21-10.
Women’s singles: Li Xuerui (Chn) bt Chan Tsz Ka (Hkg) 21-10, 21-8; Gu Juan (Sin) bt Lindaweni Fanetri (Ina) 21-17, 21-19; Juliane Schenk (Ger) bt Inthanon Ratchanok (Tha) 21-17, 16-21, 21-10; Wang Xin (Chn) bt Sung Ji-hyun (Kor) 19-21, 21-18, 21-18.
Women’s doubles: Jung Kyung-eun-Kim Ha-na (Kor) bt Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Jpn) 16-21, 25-23, 21-11; Cheng Shu-Pan Pan (Chn) bt Sandra Marinelo-Birgit Michels (Ger) 21-14, 21-13; Huan Xia-Tang Jinhua (Chn) bt Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) 21-14, 7-21, 23-21; Mizuki Fujii-Reika Kakiiwa (Jpn) bt Cheng Wen-hsing-Chien Yu-chin (Tpe) 21-19, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Thomas Laybourn-Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) bt Yoo Yeon-seong-Jang Ye-na (Kor) 21-19, 21-13; Lee Yong-dae-Ha Jung-eun (Kor) bt Michael Fuchs-Birgit Michels (Ger) 21-8, 21-10; Shoji Sato-Shizuka Matsuo (Jpn) bt Kim Ki-jung-Jung Kyung-eun (Kor) 21-13, 23-21; Sudket Prapakamol-T. Saralee (Tha) bt Mohd Rijal-Debby Susanto (Ina) 21-15, 16-21, 21-15.
