9 April 2005	Saturday	29 Safar 1426

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TOKYO, April 8: Olympic badminton champion Taufik Hidayat shrugged off his injury woes to knock former world number one Peter Gade out of the Japan Open in the quarterfinals here on Friday.

The Indonesian, playing his first event of the season after suffering knee and back problems, came through a hard-fought match to win 15-13, 12-15, 15-12 against the second-seeded Dane.

Hidayat, who also beat Gade in the quarter-finals on his way to Athens gold, described the encounter as a “strange” match with both players distracted by breeze from an air-conditioner and the court lights.

Service changed hands several times at 9-9 in the decider but Hidayat upped the pace, hitting an array of attacking shots from short range to take a 14-10 lead.

Gade staved off four match points and crawled back to 12-14 but Hidayat earned his fifth match point with a jump smash before ending the 95-minute battle with another lightning shot which Gade parried wide.

In the semi-finals Saturday, Hidayat will take on All England champion Chen Hong, who beat fellow Chinese Chen Yu 17-14, 15-4.

The other semi-final will be between China’s world number one Lin Dan and Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark.

The top-seeded Lin beat countryman Bao Chunlai with an 11-15, 15-6, 15-4 win, while Jonassen, the fourth seed, eliminated Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 15-10, 15-7.

Meanwhile, the top four seeds will make up the women’s semi-finals, after China’s Xie Xingfang and Zhang Ning won comfortably and Pi Hongyan of France and Wang Chen of Hong Kong came through tough matches.

Xie, who became the new world number one announced Thursday, brushed aside Jiang Yanjiao 11-5, 11-2, and Athens Olympic champion Zhang Ning trounced Lu Lan 11-6, 11-0 in all-Chinese affairs.

Pi had to overcome a second-game lapse to beat China’s Zhu Lin 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, while Wang saved one match point before beating 1998 Asian Games gold medallist Kanako Yonekura 6-11, 13-11, 11-9.

Men’s singles quarterfinals: Lin Dan bt Bao Chunlai) 11-15, 15-6, 15-4; Kenneth Jonassen bt Lee Chong Wei 15-10, 15-7; Chen Hong bt Chen Yu 17-14, 15-4; Taufik Hidayat bt Peter Gade 15-13, 12-15, 15-12.—Agencies