The fifth day of the Li-Ning BWF World Badminton Championships 2014 had it all. Ballerup Super Arena was crowded with people, dramatic fights between seeded players, and a few upsetting surprises.
You can se all the results from the quarter-finals are right here.
If you want a more detailed report of Friday’s events, just continue reading.
Women’s Singles:
There are only four players left to fight for the title as the World’s Best Women’s Single player, which was won by Danish legend Camilla Martin last time the World Badminton Championships was taking place in Denmark, in 1999.
The quarter-finals were filled with both exiting duels and also some surprises. The Olympic Champion Li Xuerui, Japanese surprise Minatsu Mitani, and Indian youngster P.V. Sindhu are all through to the semi-finals.
Three matches that you can readmore about right here:
They were followed by European Champion Carolina Marin, who was very tired after her quarter-final victory over Tui Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei. Read more here:
The semi-finals will be; Minatsu Mitani against Li Xuerui and Carolina Marinversus P. V. Sindhu. Both will be played Saturday in Ballerup Super Arena.
Men’s Singles:
With the 3rd seeded Dane Jan Ø. Jørgensen out of the tournament, the home crowd crossed fingers for the Danish youngster, Viktor Axelsen, which was the only one left to secure a medal for Denmark in the Men's Singles. But luckily for the Danes, Viktor Axelsen won his quarter-finals in two games, 21-14, 21-14, against Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei.
The 20-year old Dane secured his victory with his controlled netdrops and his trademark; very steep smash. In the next round he’s facing 1st seed Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, whom haven’t lost a single game so far in the Championships.
Here is what Viktor Axelsen said.
The other semi-final will be a duel between the 2nd seed, Chen Long from China, and peers Tommy Sugiarto from Indonesia. Sugairto, who is son of the former World Champion, Icuk Sugiarto, defeated his quarter-final opponent, Eric Pang from Netherlands, in two very tight games; 22-20, 21-19.
Chen Long had also a very tough quarter-final. Against a well-playing Son Wan Ho from South Korea, Chen Long had to play almost 90 minutes before his ticket to the semi-finals was booked; 21-14, 12-21, 21-17.
Mixed Doubles:
China is a notoriously great badminton nation. It has once again been proved in the Mixed Doubles’ category, where no less than three of the last four couples is from the populous Asian nation. The one all-Chinese semi-final is between 1st seed Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei and Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin. Both doubles won their quarter-finals in two games.
The other semi-final is the second seeded Chinese, Xu Chen/Ma Jin, against the Danish darlings Joachim Fisher/Christinna Pedersen who needed three games to win their quarter-finals, 12-21,22-20, 21-18.
Women’s Doubles:
In the Women’s Doubles matches there have been fights between several compatriots. First the two Chinese pairs; Wang Xiaoli /Yu Yang and Luo Ying /Luo Yu were facing each other in a match, that the 4th seeded Wang Xiaoli /Yu Yang won in two matches, 21-11, 21-11.
The other national quarter-final was a Korean duel between Lee So Hee/ShinSeung Chan and Jang Ye Na/Kim So Young. Unlike the Chinese-match the Koreans were performing more equally. At last the 16th seeded Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan defeated their countrymen, who were seeded as the sixth best Women’s Double. The victorious Korean constellation is now meeting Tian Qing/ZhaoYunlei from China in the first semi-final.
The other semi-final will be a match between Japanese Reika Kakiwaa/MiyukiMaeda and Wang Xiaoli /Yu Yang from China. That means that the two Indonesian doubles; Anggia Shitta Awanda/Della Destiara Haris and Nitya KrishindaMaheswari/Greysia Polii are out of the Championships.
Men’s Doubles:
Back in South Korea they are probably having a blast watching the World Championships. Not less than three of the remaining Men’s Doubles are from South Korea. Two of them are of course facing each other at Saturday’s semi-finals. The national Korean duel will be between the Ko Sung Hyun/ShinBaek Choel and Kim Ki Jung and namesake Kim Sa Rang.
That leaves superstar Lee Yong Dae and mate Yoo Yeon Seong for the othersemi-final. The Korean double is the highest seeded after 1st seed MohammedAhsan/Hendre Setiawan from Indonesia withdrew shortly before the Championships begun. But still they have quite the game to look forward to, when they are facing the experienced Danish duo of Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, who probably have a crowded Ballerup Super Arena cheering their lungs out for the Danes.