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Badminton: Julia and Choong Hann stun top Danes

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Julia Wong and seasoned campaigner Wong Choong Hann stole the thunder on the second day of action in the China Open in Shanghai yesterday. Both of them eliminated Danish star shuttlers.

Julia made it to her first-ever quarter-finals of a Super Series event by dumping the world number two Tine Rasmussen 22-20, 10-21, 21-10 in a 49-minute second-round match. It was her second win over Rasmussen after the Philippines Open last year.

Malaysia are now left with Julia in the women’s singles challenge following the tame exit of defending champion Wong Mew Choo, who has been constantly bugged by injuries. The Malaysian number one was beaten 11-21, 14-21 by China’s Zhu Jingjing.

Julia, who is ranked 26th in the world, will take on China’s Wang Lin today and Malaysian hopes are on her to do a repeat of Mew Choo’s stunning efforts last year.

“I am so happy to reach my first Super Series quarter-finals. My strategy was to make Tine run all over the court and forced her to make many mistakes. It worked. The record between Wang Lin and I stands at 1-1. I will give my best,” said Julia in a telephone interview.

In the men’s singles, former national player Choong Hann also enjoyed a good day. He got the better of Danish and French Open champion Peter Gade-Christensen, winning an energy-sapping 66-minute match 17-21, 21-18, 21-16.

It was Choong Hann’s first win over Gade-Christensen in three years. He had not beaten the classy Dane since his defeat in the Malaysian Open in July, 2005.

There was disappointment for another big gun, Indonesian Taufik Hidayat. He crashed to a 20-22, 11-21 defeat by unheralded Chinese Du Pengyu.

In the quarter-finals today, Choong Hann, who quit the national team after the Beijing Olympic Games, will take on top seed and compatriot Lee Chong Wei, who blew away Ng Wei of Hong Kong 21-13, 21-14 to advance.

Choong Hann, who has been playing for Brandenburger Sports Community in the German League since last month, was happy with his form.

“Playing in the league has helped me to be better organised. I learn to juggle between the league and international matches,” he said in a telephone interview.

“It is not easy to cope with the training and playing matches at a frequent pace like this and still be able to achieve good results. It is all in the mind of the player.”

However, Choong Hann’s run in the men’s doubles with Hong Chieng Hun ended yesterday. They were beaten 13-21, 16-21 by compatriots Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif.

It was also the end of the road for Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng, losing 14-21, 9-21 to South Koreans Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung.

Fairuzizuan-Zakry were joined in the quarter-finals by Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah and Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and the three pairs can expect it tough against Danes Mathias Boe-Carsten Morgensen, Koreans Yong-dae-Jae-sung and Danes Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen respectively.

Danish Open champions Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty kept up their consistencyin performing well to beat China’s Deng Yuting-Tang Jinhua 21-13, 21-10. They will play against another Chinese pair, Xie Jing-Zhong Qianxin, for a place in the semi-finals.

Star

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