Men’s top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia moved into the round of 16 at the badminton World Championships with a 21-11, 21-14 win over Nigeria’s Ola Fagbemi yesterday.
Lee, the world’s No. 1-ranked player and silver medalist at last year’s Olympics, set up a third-round clash with Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen, who ousted France’s Brice Leverdez 21-14, 21-16.
In a day of few surprises, all the favorites won through to the final 16.
PHOTO: AFP
Third-seeded Dane Peter Gade had a 21-11, 21-12 victory over Japan’s Sho Sasaki. Gade will next play Hong Kong’s Yan Kit Chan after the 10th seed struggled past Ireland’s Scott Evans 21-16, 19-21, 21-12.
Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat, seeded fourth, had a 21-17, 21-15 win over France’s Mathieu Lo Ying Ping.
His next clash will be against Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-hsing, who edged Hong Kong’s Ng Wei 24-22, 20-22, 21-18.
Taufik will be joined in the last 16 by compatriot and sixth-seeded Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who downed Poland’s Przemyslaw Wacha 21-12, 21-13. Simon Santoso also won, making it three Indonesians in round three.
In the women’s singles, No. 1 seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong also won yesterday, defeating New Zealand’s Michelle Chan Ky. She will face Ai Goto in round three after the Japanese provided one of few upsets by ousting 14th-seed Malaysian Mew Choo Wong 18-21, 21-12, 23-21.
Zhou remained on track for a quarter-final clash with China’s Xie Xingfang, who progressed with a 23-21, 18-10 retired defeat of Bulgaria’s Linda Zechiri.
However, the fifth-seeded player must first overcome Thailand’s Salakjit Ponsana, who also provided a minor upset by eliminating 16th-seeded Judith Meleundijks of the Netherlands 11-21, 21-16, 21-11.
Fourth-seeded Wang Yihan had a 21-13, 21-16 victory over Scotland’s Susan Eglestaff, and the Chinese will next face Germany’s Juliane Schenk, who cruised to a 21-11, 21-9 win over Russia’s Ella Diehl.
Saina Nehwal, seeded sixth, gave Indian fans something to cheer with her 21-10, 21-17 defeat of Russia’s Anastasia Prokopenko, while China’s Lu Lan (No. 7), France’s Pi Hongyan (No. 8) and Hong Kong’s Chen Wang (No. 9) were other leading players to progress.
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