Basel: Chinese badminton legend – Lin Dan’s Swiss Open campaign has come to a halt in men’s singles quarter-final action on Friday, losing to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 21-14, 8-21, 11-21 in a 59 minutes battle.
This exit at Swiss Open, unfortunately, was not a one-off for Lin. The two-time Olympic champion from China also suffered a shocked first round defeat at the All England Open badminton championships last Wednesday. As the fearsome champion once known as “Super Dan” continued to struggle, his target of booking a fifth consecutive appearance at the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year may look like a bridge too far.
The No. 4 seed Ginting will play No. 1 Shi Yuqi of China in the semi-finals.
China’s Rio Olympic champion Chen Long, was able to see off Subhankar Dey of India 21-18, 21-17 to set up a semi-final clash with B Sai Praneeth of India.
In men’s doubles, last week’s All England champions Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia went the distance in a grueling quarter-final encounter with Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan. Unfortunately, the reigning All England champions eventually fell into the hands of the Taiwanese pair 26-24, 7-21, 12-21. Lee/Wang will play Kim Gi Jung/Lee Yong Dae of South Korea on Saturday.
Kim Gi Jung/Lee Yong Dae, on the other hand, beat Malaysia’s Mohamad Arif Ab Latif Arif/Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn 18-21, 22-20, 21-15 on Friday.
China’s No. 1 seeds Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan who won last week’s All England women’s doubles title, won the first set 21-18 before conceding the next two 14-21, 14-21 to compatriots and No. 6 seeds Li Wenmei/Zheng Yu in 56 minutes.
Li/Zheng will take on No. 3 seeds Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida of Japan on Saturday.
