Badminton world championships: Long battle sees Chen through to semis

Defending champion pushed to his limits by Viktor Axelsen

JAKARTA: Chen Long fought off a stubborn Viktor Axelsen at the world championships on Friday, with the plucky Dane pushing the top seed to the limit in an epic quarter-final showdown in Jakarta.

Chen claimed the first game but the seventh-seeded Axelsen put up a dogged defence in the second, dragging the contest beyond an hour before succumbing 21-18, 30-29.

“I was starting to prepare for the third game, but luckily I got it,” Chen told reporters via a translator.

A devastated Axelsen said he struggled to find rhythm and get the best of his formidable opponent. “I was so close to getting the second set, but Chen Long played better than me here,” the young hopeful told reporters after the match.

Chen progresses to the semi-finals where he will face fourth seed Kento Momota, who dispatched Hong Kong’s Wei Nan 21-6, 21-14.

The 20-year-old Momota, who won the Indonesian Open in June, said he was hoping to face Axelsen but is determined to do his best against the defending champion. “Chen Long is the number one seed, so I hope to prove myself against him,” said the Japanese star.



In the evening matches, hopes of a dream semi-final between veteran arch-rivals Lin Dan and Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei were dashed when the Chinese five-times world champion was beaten in straight sets by Danish second seed Jan O Jorgensen.

Other matches

In the women’s singles, world number one Carolina Marin appeared at her most confident as she charged past her toughest opponent yet, seventh seed Wang Shixian of China 21-17, 21-19.

Marin will face Korean Sung Ji-Hyun after the ninth-seed beat India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-17, 19-21, 21-16.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s unseeded shuttler Lindaweni Fanetri upset Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying, bouncing back from a slow start to defeat the fourth seed 14-21, 22-20, 21-12 before a roaring home crowd.

Unseeded Japanese pair Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao, who dismissed the second-ranked Chinese pair on Thursday, continued their rampage in the women’s doubles with a 25-23, 21-14 win over 13th seeded Indian pair Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th,  2015.

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