Birmingham: The most decorated player in the history of badminton, Lin Dan from China extended his dominance in the quarter-finals of All England on Friday when he foiled a stirring fightback from third-seeded Denmark shuttler Jan O Jorgensen, beating the Dane 10-21, 21-9, 21-15 in 67 minutes.
After his stunning victory against compatriot and World No. 1 Chen Long, China’s underdog Xue Song continued an impressive All England run by upsetting No. 6 seed Viktor Axelsen 21-19, 23-25, 21-11 in a thrilling 73 minute quarter-final match.
Both Lin Dan and Xue Song were made to face each other on Saturday to fight for a place in the final while Tian Houwei will clash with Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark in other semis for a final berth.
Trying to land a spot on Malaysia’s badminton Olympic team, both men’s doubles pairs Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong and Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong were locked in tight battles on Friday as Goh/Tan took the opening set 21-19. After leading the second set with 9-4, Koo/Tan started making mistakes to allow Goh/Tan to collect 6 consecutive points, and ultimately it was Goh/Tan that came out victorious, clinching the victory with a 22-20 second set win.
Goh/Tan will take on 6 seeds Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa on Saturday, while top seeds Lee Yong-Dae/Yoo Yeon-Seong will play unseeded Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov in the other men’s doubles semi-final.
Returning from an injury layoff, No. 2 seed women’s singles shuttler Saina Nehwal failed to live up to her billing and was defeated by Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 16-21 in the quarter-finals; on the other hand, top seeded Carolina Marin saw off sixth seed Ratchanok Intanon 21-17, 21-19. Marin will take on Nozomi Okuhara on Saturday while Wang Shixian faces Tai Tzu Ying in other women’s singles semi-final.
