Wuhan: After a pretty quiet day one at Badminton Asia Championships yesterday, a larger crowd has attended the six-day event on Wednesday to show support for their home team and to watch Lin Dan made his first appearance in the tournament.
The second seeded Lin Dan took only 19 minutes to dispatch U Ieong Iek of Macau 21-3, 21-6 to cruise to the third round. Lin Dan was once led by 15-0 in the first set an
d will take on Farzin Khanjani of Iran on Thursday.
“My opponent in today’s match was not that strong, I was just focusing on every shot, even if I have to hold my opponent at zero point,” said Lin Dan.
In women’s singles, top seed Li Xuerui of China breathed a sigh of relief after surviving one set deficit before she ramped up her performance and advanced safely to third round of Badminton Asia Championships after she rallied past unseeded Thi Trang B Vu 21-9, 11-21, 21-13 in 43 minutes.
Malaysia’s No.2 men’s singles player Chong Wei Feng had it easy on Wednesday when he sent Syrian’s Aljallad Ahmad packing with 21-7, 21-12 in his second round victory. He faces Artyom Savatyugin of Uzbekistan on Thursday. Malaysia’s Tee Jing Yi succeeded effortlessly on Wednesday after her opponent Mazahreh Leina Fehmi of Jordan gave her a walkover. Tee will take on Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea on Thursday for a final eight berth.
In men’s doubles, the unseeded Cai Yun and Lu Kai of China produced a stellar performance, upsetting Stan Wawrinka second seeds Lee Sheng Mu/Tsai Chia Hsin of Taiwan 21-17, 21-19 in 58 minutes.
