Chong Wei loses to Lin Dan in All-England

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's challenge is all over at the All-England with the defeats of Lee Chong Wei (pic) and Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong in the men's singles and doubles quarter-finals respectively.

Lin Dan of China dethroned Chong Wei to stay on course for his seventh men's singles All-England title.

The former world No. 1 took 51-minutes to beat Chong Wei 21-16, 21-17 at Arena Birmingham on Friday (March 16) to set up a meeting with compatriot Huang Yuxiang.

The opening game was not as spectacular as one would have expected as Lin Dan and Chong Wei were sluggish.

The two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan upped the tempo as the game progressed and Chong Wei kept up with the pace until 16-16 before the Malaysian threw away easy points to hand over the first game on the platter.

But everything changed in the second game as the old foes raised the level of play by snapping at each others heels with longer rallies, stinging smashes, tricky shots, tighter netplays and steely determination.

Both locked horns until 13-13 but it was evident that Lin Dan was the better player when he showed more urgency and confidence to pull away with a commanding 21-17 win.

It was Lin Dan's 28th win in 40 matches against Chong Wei over a decade.

In the men's doubles, V Shem-Wee Kiong ran out of steam after a good start when they lost 20-22, 11-21 to veteran Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen of Denmark.

QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS

Men's singles: Lin Dan (Chn) bt Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 21-16, 21-17; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Chen Long (Chn) 21-10, 21-17; Son Wan-ho (Kor) bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 21-18, 9-21, 21-14; Huang Yuxiang (Chn) bt H.S. Prannoy (Ind) bt Huang Yuxiang (Chn) 20-22, 21-16, 23-21.

Men's doubles: Marcus Gideon Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina) bt Chen Hung Ling-Wang Chi-lin (Chn) 21-15, 21-13; Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe (Jpn) bt Liao Min-chun-Su Ching-heng (Tpe) 21-14, 21-19; Mads Conrad-Petersen-Mads Pieler Kolding (Den) bt Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn) 23-21, 21-15; Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Mas) 22-20, 21-11.

Women's singles: Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) bt Aya Ohori (Jpn) 21-12, 21-13; P.V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) 20-22, 21-18, 21-18; Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Carolina Marin (Spa) 21-15, 21-18; Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Mia Blichfeldt (Den) 21-17, 21-12.

Women's doubles: Shiho Tanaka-Koharu Yonemoto (Jpn) bt Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) 14-21, 21-17, 21-15; Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) bt Jonkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 21-16, 21-18; Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) bt Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Jpn) 21-17, 25-23; Kamilla Rytter Juhl-Christinna Pedersen (Den) bt Lee So Hee-Shin Seung-chan (Kor) 21-15, 21-14.

Mixed doubles: Mathias Christiansen-Christinna Pedersen (Den) bt Praveen Jordan-Debby Susanto (Ina) 21-16, 21-15; Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) bt Chris Adcock-Gabrielle Adcock (Eng) 18-21, 21-15, 21-15; Zhang Nan-Li Yinhui (Chn) bt Hafiz Faizal-Gloria Emmanuelle Widjaya (Ina) 21-14, 18-21, 21-18; Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (Chn) 21-16, 16-21, 21-11.