WORLDS Day 4 - Double “J”eopardy in the Round of 16

Friday, 14 August 2009 04:50

It was Europe’s two J’s – Juliane Schenk of Germany and Jan O Jorgensen (pictured) of Denmark - who scripted the biggest upsets in the singles events of Day 4 of the World Championships.

By Gaurav Gupta, Badzine Correspondent live in Hyderabad. Photos: BadmintonPhoto (live)

Jan O Jorgensen has the tag of being touted as a player for the future by the legendary Morten Frost and the performance of the young Dane this tournament week has made the world now look at him with concerted interest.

Having got a very tough draw to begin with Jorgensen began with the element of luck in his corner when his first round opponent Andrew Smith pulled out. That only seemed to boost his belief in belonging to the world stage and his upset win over 8th seed Park Sung Hwan was only a prelude to his performance today.

Playing against another exciting prospect in the form of Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, the 21-year-old Dane capitalized on the rusty form of the Thai coming from a game behind to slam the door shut in the 3rd game closing the match 18-21, 21-14, 21-14 in just less than an hour. The ecstatic celebrations of Jorgensen highlighted the weight age attached to his progression into the quarter-final stage of the World Championships.

Jorgensen has the daunting figure of Taufik Hidayat on the opposite side of the net on Friday. The flamboyant Indonesian has quietly made his way through into the last eight with dominating performances in all his matches so far, giving no sniff of a chance to Taipei’s Hsieh Yu Hsing today and winning 21-15, 21-19.

Joining 4th seed Hidayat will be the other key actors of this epic saga. Lin Dan was hardly tested by Dicky Palyama as the strongest contender for the crown cruised to a 21-11, 21-11 victory. His arch-nemesis and #1 seed Lee Chong Wei (pictured) had an equally impressive 21-13, 21-17 win over his tricky Vietnamese opponent Nguyen Tien Minh.

Peter Gade is not the first name that pops up when talking of possible contenders for the title this week but he too was methodical in his rout of Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong. Never put to the test by Chan, the Danish superstar wrapped up his match 21-11, 21-12 to set up his date against Lin Dan in the quarter-finals.

Simon Santoso became the 3rd Indonesian in the last eight when he beat young Japanese player Kenichi Tago 21-10, 21-12 in an anti-climax of a match. He is pitted against the 2nd seed Chen Jin, who hardly broke a sweat against the fading Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia 21-12, 21-7. Completing the quarterfinal list is Sony Dwi Kuncoro who quelled the challenge of the last remaining Indian player in the draw when he beat Chetan Anand 21-16, 21-16.

A European makes the first dent in the Chinese Brigade

26-year-old German player Juliane Schenk (pictured) upset the newly crowned All England Champion to hand powerhouse China their first major loss in their strongest discipline in this edition of the World Championships.

A visibly charged and motivated Schenk faced off against an out of sorts Wang Yihan. In a display of top quality retrieving, the German consistently kept the shuttle in play, forcing the 4th-seeded Chinese girl into long rallies, much to the dislike of Wang. “The Chinese are beatable,” was Schenk’s statement in her post-match interview, where she stated that the performances of Tine, Pi and Zhou Mi instilled in her the belief of scripting the upset. The 21-18, 21-11 win puts in the German in a quarter-final clash with another European player, Pi Hongyan of France.

“I lost to her in Malaysia, but we are pretty even. After my match today, I have a 51-49 chance against Pi,” was Schenk’s reaction when asked about her chances in the quarter-finals.

The Indian Open champion Pi Hongyan (pictured below) of France took complete advantage of her familiarity of the venue in her 34-minute defeat of Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti. Playing in probably the form of her life - Pi says she is in top physical condition - ousted the Olympic bronze medallist 21-13, 21-14.

Xie Xingfang and Saina Nehwal both had to overcome determined opponents in their round of 16 matches. While the #5 seed Xie seemed to switch off in the second game of her match against Thai Salakjit Ponsana, Saina gave the home fans many a nervous moment before winning the final match of the day against the gritty Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva 18-21, 21-18, 21-10.

Wang Lin will be looking to avenge her Indonesian Super Series loss to Saina in June as the two exciting young women’s players face off in the quarter-finals. Wang Lin always controlled her match against Korean Hwang Hye Youn converting key points and frustrating the Korean into a 10-21, 21-23 defeat.

Tine Rasmussen has not been playing since the All England in March and her rustiness was put to test by the gutsy Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong.

“I was nervous since I’ve not played in the last 5 months but it was nice to finally be on court today and get a feel of the playing hall,” said Tine after her hard fought 21-13, 11-21, 21-15 win. She now faces 7th seed Lu Lan of China who turned in a no nonsense performance against Wang Chen winning 21-18, 21-14.

It was not all doom and gloom for Hong Kong as the #1 seed Zhou Mi still stands tall in the women’s singles draw. She registered a 21-11, 21-18 win over Ai Goto and meets Xie Xingfang in her quarter-final match.

For complete results from Day 4 of the 2009 Yonex Sunrise BWF World Championships, please CLICK HERE

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