World No. 4 Chen Jin of China moved into the final of the Asian Badminton Championships yesterday with an upset 21-13, 21-14 win over compatriot and world No. 1 Lin Dan in only 23 minutes. Chen needed only to reach the final of the competition to seal a place in the Beijing Olympics.
It is the last tournament for players to collect qualification points ahead of the Games.
Even if world No. 5 Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark wins the individual title in the ongoing European Championships in Denmark, the Dane will not be able to dislodge Chen from fourth spot.
PHOTO: AP
Chen will now join world No. 1 Lin and world No. 3 Bao Chunlai at the summer Games.
A country can have a maximum of three players if all of them are ranked within the top four in the world standings.
The crowd had packed the Johor Bahru Indoor Stadium, expecting a thriller between the two greats from China. But were disappointed by the lackluster performance of the two players.
Chen, however, denied that the match was a fix.
“It was a normal game between Lin Dan and me. We know each other’s play quite well,” Chen said. “Lin Dan is injured and that is probably why he could not give his best. But I am happy to have secured a place in the Olympics. Yes, I know the crowd was booing but I was not bothered at all. I didn’t care what was happening as I was concentrating on my game.”
In today’s final, Chen will be up against seventh seed Park Sung-hwan of South Korea who beat fifth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro in a thriller. He recovered from a one set deficit to win 14-21, 21-16, 21-19.
Park, ranked 10 in the world, was also taken to three sets in his quarter-final match against Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana.
“I knew that in order for Chen Jin to go to the final, Lin Dan had to lose. He had an easy match, while I had a tough one. But, I am ready to face Chen Jin. I am in good physical shape and feel confident,” Park said.
Park played Chen once before in the 2006 Asian Games and lost.
In the women’s singles semi-final matches it was a bad day for Hong Kong when top seed Wang Chen and third seed Yip Pui-yin lost their respective matches. Wang Chen was beaten 17-21, 16-21 by defending champion Jiang Yanjiao of China, while unseeded Wang Lin of China upset Yip 21-14, 21-18.
In the women’s doubles Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen of China defeated Vita Marissa and Liliyana of South Korea 21-10, 21-16.
In today’s final they will face Taiwan’s Cheng Wen-hsin and Yu Chin-chien, who beat Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Kyung-won of South Korea 21-18, 21-5.
In the mixed doubles the news was not so good for Taiwan. Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa of Indonesia defeated Fang Chieh-min and Cheng Wen-hsin of Taiwan 21-17, 21-15 in their semi-final.
The Indonesians will face compatriots Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir, who defeated He Hanbin and Yu Yang of China 21-14, 21-17.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS