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| April 5, 2002 | Friday | Muharram 21, 1423 |
Gopichand causes another upset
TOKYO, April 4: Last year’s All England champion Pulella Gopichand pulled off another upset win Thursday, beating in-form third seed Lin Dan of China on Thursday to seal his place in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open badminton tournament.
The ninth seed from India, who beat world champion Hendrawan of Indonesia in five games Wednesday, again came back from a game down twice to score a 3-7, 7-3, 5-7, 7-4, 7-3 victory in 59 minutes.
China suffered another major set-back when All England winner Chen Hong, the second seed, fractured his right leg and had to abandon his match with Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia. Chen was 4-6 down in the final game.
But current Asian champion and top seed Xia Xuanze went through comfortably, beating defending champion Muhammad Roslin Hashim, Hafiz’s elder brother, 7-4, 7-0, 7-4 to set up an all-Chinese encounter against Chen Yu.
China dominated the women’s singles with defending champion Zhou Mi, world champion Gong Ruina, Asian champion Zhang Ning, former Asian junior champion Hu Ting, 2000 Asian champion Xie Xingfang and Dai Yun all reaching the quarter-finals.
The 1998 Asian Games gold medallist, Kanako Yonekura of Japan, and Chen Wang of Hong Kong are the only non-Chinese challengers.
Gopichand was playing on the same court as Wednesday, where he found a strong draft from airconditioners was helping him win all his games from one end of the court and lose them from the other.
It was the same story on Thursday. Although Gopichand was 1-4 down in the fourth game, he looked confident on his “winning side” and fired an array of unstoppable smashes combined with overhead drops to tie it at 2-2.
He was leading 4-2 in the decider when the players changed sides, leaving him to see out the match from his favourite end.
Gopichand’s will meet China’s Wu Yunyong, who outclassed Fung Permadi of Taiwan 7-2, 7-0, 8-7, in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Collated results (x denotes seeds):
MEN’S (singles third round)
Xia Xuanze (Chn x1) bt Roslin Muhammad Hashim (Mas) 7-4, 7-0, 7-4; Chen Yu (Chn x9) bt Nunung Subandoro (Ina) 7-2, 4-7, 7-2, 7-0; Keita Masuda (Jpn) bt Boonsak Polsana (Tha) 3-7, 7-5, 8-6, 7-6; Bao Chunlai (Chn x5) bt Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 7-2, 7-5, 7-4; Wu Yunyong (Chn) bt Fung Permadi (Tpe) 7-2, 7-0, 8-7; Pulella Gopichand (Ind x9) bt Lin Dan (Chn x3) 3-7, 7-3, 5-7, 7-4, 7-3; Lee Hyun-Il (Kor x5) bt Luo Yigang (Chn) 7-5, 7-1, 3-7, 2-7, 7-5; Hafiz Muhammad Hashim (Mas x9) bt Chen Hong (Chn x2) 4-7, 7-2, 0-7, 7-2, 6-4, ret.
WOMEN’S (singles first round)
Zhou Mi (Chn x1) bt Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn (Tha) 0-7, 7-2, 7-1, 7-0; Eriko Hirose (Jpn) bt Koon Wai-chee (Hkg) 7-8, 7-3, 7-0, 1-7, 7-0; Hu Ting (Chn x5) bt Lidya Djaelawijaya (Ina) 8-6, 7-0, 7-0; Yuli Marfuah (Ina) bt Wong Mew Choo (Mas) 7-4, 7-1, 8-6; Gong Ruina (Chn x3) bt Li Li (Sin) 8-7, 7-1, 7-1; Kaori Mori (Jpn) bt Ellen Angelina (Ina) 4-7, 7-5, 7-4, 7-2; Chen Wang (Hkg x5) bt Miho Tanaka (Jpn) 8-6, 5-7, 7-0, 7-0; Tracey Hallam (Eng) bt Jody Patrick (Can) 7-0, 7-3, 7-2; Sachiko Sekimoto (Jpn) bt Mihoko Matsuo (Jpn) 7-3, 6-8, 7-1, 7-4; Kanako Yonekura (Jpn x5) bt Ling Wan-ting (Hkg) 0-7, 7-2, 7-2, 7-1; Wei Yan (Chn) bt Fan Liu (Sin) 7-0, 7-3, 7-0; Zhang Ning (Chn x3) bt Etsuko Teramoto (Jpn) 7-1, 7-2, 7-4; Kim Kyeung-Ran (Kor) bt Agnese Allegrini (Ita) 7-3, 7-2, 7-1; Dai Yun (Chn x5) bt Charmaine Reid (Can) 7-1, 7-2, 8-7; Xie Xingfang (Chn) bt Tomomi Matsuda (Jpn) 7-2, 7-2, 7-1; Kyoko Komuro (Jpn) bt Atsu Risalina (Ina) 7-4, 1-7, 8-7, 7-2
(Second round): Zhou Mi (Chn x1) bt Eriko Hirose (Jpn) 7-0, 7-4, 8-7; Hu Ting (Chn x5) bt Yuli Marfuah (Ina) 7-8, 7-5, 7-1, 7-1; Gong Ruina (Chn x3) bt Kaori Mori (Jpn) 4-7, 5-7, 7-5, 7-0, 7-4; Chen Wang (Hkg x5) bt Tracey Hallam (Eng) 7-0, 7-1, 7-1; Kanako Yonekura (Jpn x5) bt Sachiko Sekimoto (Jpn) 7-0, 7-4, 3-7, 7-4; Zhang Ning (Chn x3) bt Wei Yan (Chn) 7-0, 2-7, 7-1, 4-7, 7-4; Dai Yun (Chn x5) bt Kim Kyeung-Ran (Kor) 7-1, 7-1, 8-6; Xie Xingfang (Chn) bt Kyoko Komuro (Jpn) 7-0, 7-4, 7-2.—AFP
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