Traditional powerhouse China saw three seeds crash out of the
badminton quarter-finals at the 15th Asian Games on Thursday.
The men's singles third seed Bao Chunlai failed to block off an
active Taufik Hidayat, losing to the Indonesian Olympic champion
21-16, 21-14.
The 25-year-old Indonesian top player is going to fight for a
final berth against second-seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who
finished off Thai top shuttler Boonsak Ponsana 20-22, 21-11 and
21-7.
In the first men's singles quarter-final match, Chinese Lin
Dannipped eighth-seeded Ng Wei from Hong Kong of China 21-15,
21-13.
The top seed, nicknamed "Super Dan", is going to clash with
South Korean star Lee Hyun Il, who smashed Hashim Muhammad Hafiz of
Malaysia 22-20, 21-6.
In the women's quarter-finals, 19-year-old Yip Pui Yin from Hong
Kong of China ousted top seed and reigning Olympic champion Zhang
Ning in straight sets.
Chinese world number two Xie Xingfang got away with a win over
Eriko Hirose of Japan 21-7, 22-24 and 21-16. The tired world
champion will face in-form Wang Chen from Hong Kong of China, who
defeated South Korean Lee Yun Hwa, 23-21, 21-8.
China suffered most in the men's doubles quarter-finals, as
their two pairs including top seeds Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng were
both eliminated on Thursday.
World champions Cai and Fu arrived in Doha as hot favorites. but
lost to Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia 21-9, 21-19 in
the pairs' first encounter.
A few minutes later, Chinese Guo Zhendong and Zheng Bo failed to
hold back the attack from Indonesian fifth-seeded Luluk
Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto Chandra in a three-set combat.
In Friday's semis, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong will
challenge Indonesian Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan. Luluk Hadiyanto
and Alvent Yulianto Chandra are going to fight against Jung Jae
Sung and Lee Yong Dae from South Korea.
Nevertheless, China didn't lose their firepower in the mixed
doubles and women's events.
After knocking off the top seeded mixed doubles shuttlers Nova
Widianto and Liliyana from Indonesia, newly-combined Zheng Bo and
Gao Ling set up a duel with Malaysian M Tazari Mohd Fairuzizuan and
Wong Pei Tty.
The third-seeded Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen wasted little
timein defeating Malaysian Koo Kien Keat and Quay Swee Ling 21-9,
21-5.The Chinese pair will take on second-seeded Sudket Prapakamol
and Saralee Thoungthongkam from Thailand in the semifinals.
Gao Ling/Huang Sui and Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewei entered the women's
semifinals. World number one Gao and Huang will meet the challenge
from South Korean arch-rivals Lee Kyung Won and Lee Hyo Jung. Yang
and Zhang will fight against Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota from
Japan.
(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)