Lin Dan loses in quarterfinals at badminton worlds
China’s Lin Dan hits a forehand return to Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen during the men’s singles quarterfinal match at the Badminton World Federation championships at Istora Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 14, 2015. AP PHOTO
JAKARTA, Indonesia— Five-time champion Lin Dan was beaten 21-12, 21-15 by Denmark’s Jan O. Jorgensen in the quarterfinals of the badminton world championships on Friday.
The two-time Olympic champion from China had been on track to meet rival Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the semifinals. Lee, a former top player who now is ranked 44th in the world, beat 13th-seeded Hu Yun of Hong Kong 21-12, 21-18.
In other matches, defending champion Chen Long of China and fourth-seeded Kento Momota of Japan advanced to the semifinals. Long beat seventh-seeded Viktor Axelson of Denmark 21-18, 30-29, while Momota defeated Wei Nan of Hong Kong 21-6, 21-14.
In the women’s singles, defending champion Carolina Marin of Spain beat seventh-seeded Wang Shixian of China 21-17, 21-19. The 22-year-old Spaniard hurt her ankle on Thursday but didn’t seem to be affected by the injury on Friday.
Marin will next face eighth-seeded Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea, who defeated 11th-seeded Pusarla Venkata Sindhu of India 21-17, 19-21, 21-16.
Also, Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia came from behind to beat fourth-seeded Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan 14-21, 22-20, 21-12.
Fanetri will take on second-seeded Saina Nehwal of India, who eliminated sixth-seeded Wand Yihan of China 21-15, 19-21, 21-19.
All the defending champions and top-seeded players advanced to the semifinals, except for in the women doubles. Japanese pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi lost in the third round Friday to unheralded Malaysian duo of Amelia Alicia Anscelly and Soong Fie Cho 21-15, 12-21, 21-14.
The men’s doubles will see one pair each from China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea, while the women’s doubles will consist of pairs from Japan, Indonesia, Denmark and China.
China dominated the mixed doubles by placing three pairs in the semifinals, along with a host duo, third-seeded Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir.
The Chinese pairs comprised top-seeded Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, second-seeded Xu Chen and Ma Jin, and fourth-seeded Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin.
