ANAHEIM (Calif) Aug 20: Reigning Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat staged a stirring comeback to defeat second-seed Kenneth Jonassen in a men’s singles quarter-final at the world badminton championships on Friday. The Indonesian number six seed lost the first game 15-3 to the Dane and made a slow start to the second before rallying to clinch it 15-10.

He won the decisive third game 15-7.

Hidayat will meet fifth seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the semi-finals. Lee easily defeated fourth seed Bao Chunlai of China 15-5 15-7.

Lee said he surprised his opponent by playing a fast game.

Top seed Lin Dan survived a scare, losing the first game to 13th seed Lee Hyun-il of South Korea before recovering to win 5-15 15-7 15-8 to set up a semi-final clash with third seed Peter Gade of Denmark.

Gade beat China’s Chen Hong 15-13 15-4 earlier in the day.

In the women’s singles, sixth seed Xu Huaiwen of Germany overwhelmed third seed Pi Hongyan of France 11-3 11-2.

China’s Zhang, who easily defeated Kaori Mori of Japan 11-4 11-6, was nevertheless critical of her performance.

Second seed Xie Xingfang of China easily defeated England’s Tracey Hallam 11-3 11-1 in another one-sided match.

Xie will face number five seed Cheng Shiao-Chieh of Taiwan in the other semifinal.

Cheng defeated fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong 11-9 5-11 11-6 in a closely fought contest.

Results

Men’s singles (quarterfinals): Lin Dan (CHN) bt Lee Hyun Ii Lee (KOR) 5-15, 15-7, 15-8: Taufik Hidayat (INA) bt Kenneth Jonassen (DEN) 3-15, 15-10, 15-7; Peter Gade (DEN) bt Chen Hong (CHN) 15-13, 15-4; Lee Chong Wei (MAS) bt Bao Chunlai (CHN) 15-5, 15-7

Women’s singles (quarterfinals): Zhang Ning (CHN) bt Kaori Mori (JPN) 11-4, 11-6; Xie Xingfang (CHN) bt Tracey Hallam (ENG) 11-3, 11-1; Xu Huaiwen (GER) bt Pi Hongyan (FRA) 11-3, 11-2; Cheng Shao-Chieh (TPE) bt Wang Chen (HKG) 11-9, 5-11, 11-6

Mixed doubles (quarterfinals) Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thungthongkam (THA) bt Zhang Jun/Gao Ling (CHN) 10-15, 15-7, 15-11; Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir (INA) bt Frederik Bergstrom/Johanna Persson 15-6, 15-6; Daniel A Shirley/Sara Runesten-Petersen (NZL) bt Lee Jae Jin/Lee Hyo Jung (KOR) 15-11, 15-13; Xie Zhongbo/Zhang Yawen (CHN) bt Chen Qiqiu/Zhao Tingting (CHN) 6-15, 17-14, 15-2.—Agencies