Super Dan Advances to Final Eight at All-England Open
World No. 2 badminton player Lin Dan of China has reached the quarter-finals of the men's singles at the All-England Open. He beat Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia in two straight sets. CRI's Tu Yun filed this report from Birmingham.
Reporter:
Lin Dan was the last Chinese to play on the third day of the tournament. He said he's prepared for a tough game.
"He's a good player and we haven't played against each other for quite some time. So I think it must be a tough one."
But Lin's strong smashes helped him clear the way to quarterfinals. He defeated Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 21-14, 21-18.
Earlier, world No. 3 Chen Jin of China beat Rajiv Ouseph of England 23-21, 21-8. Ouseph said he believed Chen Jin would go further at the tournament.
"He just played the last couple of points pretty well. He was very solid, no mistakes for him. So I thought that was the difference at the end. And in the second set, I think he completed it very quick. He was physically pretty good. I think he's got the Japanese guy tomorrow. He'll win that. I'm seeing he might play Lin Dan in the semis. It'll be pretty tough. But he's a good player."
World No. 6 Bao Chunlai of China also reached the quarterfinals after defeating Park Sung Hwan of South Korea in straight sets.
In women's singles, four Chinese players, including world No. 1 Wang Yihan, reached the final eight. In men's doubles, world No. 5 Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng and No. 7 Guo Zhendong/Xu Chen fought their way through. In women's doubles, four Chinese pairs including world No. 1 Du Jing/Yu Yang advanced. And in the mixed doubles, two Chinese pairs grabbed a place in the quarterfinals.
Tu Yun, CRI news, Birmingham.