Lin Dan gears up for his maiden Asian Badminton title

New Delhi, 17 April 2010: It was a day of disappointment for the home crowd as top seed Saina Nehwal failed to make it to the finals of the Yonex Sunrise Asia Badminton Championships 2010, being played at the state-of-the-art Siri Fort Sports complex in the national capital. Saina was outclassed by Chinese shuttler Xuerui Li in the semi finals played here today. Li Xuerui now meets team mate Xin Liu in the finals tomorrow.

In the men’s singles event second seed Chinese shuttler, Lin Dan cruised his way to the finals of the Badminton Asia Championships. He defeated Ponsana Boonsak from Thailand with a score of 22-20 and 21-10 on boards. With this he keeps the hopes alive for winning his maiden Asian Badminton title. Lin Dan now meets team mate Wang Zhengming in the finals tomorrow. Wang in the meantime sealed his birth for the finals after defeating Japanese shuttler Kenichi Tago in a tightly fought match. The score at the end of the match was 21-14, 19-21 and 21-16 in favour of the Chinese.

“It was a nice match and i hope to win the finals tomorrow. I play my junior tomorrow, and though the title shall remain with China only still we will give our best to the match,” said Lin Dan after his win.

He further added, “The stadium here is nice and the crowd is very welcoming and supportive. It’s a nice feeling to play amidst supportive crowds.”

In the biggest upset of the day top seed Saina Nehwal, India’s lone hope in the Badminton Asia Championships lost to unseeded qualifier Li Xuerui of China in a one-sided match. The Chinese closed the match in her favour with a score of 21-17 and 21-11 on boards. In another upset of the day Chinese shuttler Xin Liu outclassed second seed Zhou Mi from Honkong with a score of 21-15 and 21-18 on boards.

“She played better than me today. I was fast and swift but she was faster and swifter. Somehow I could not keep my mind on the court today. After trailing below her in the second game all I wanted was to get points and that resulted in some errors. I did try to catch up with her in the second game and managed some five points at a stretch but the difference was huge and so I lost the match today,” said Saina Nehwal after her loss to Xureui Li in the semifinals today.

In the men’s doubles event Gun Woo Choo and Yeon Seong Yoo of Korea defeated Chieh Min Fang and Sheng Mu Lee of Chinese Taipei in straight games of 21-18 and 22-20. The Korean pair now meets top seed Hung Ling Chen and Yu Lang Lin of Chinese Taipei in the finals tomorrow.

In the women’s doubles event sixth seed Chinese pair of Pan Pan and Quing Tian beat third seed Chinese Taipei’s pair of Wen Hsing Cheng and Yu Chin Chien. The Chinese pair now meets Malaysian women’s doubles team of Vivian Kah Mun Hoo and Khe Wei Woon. In the mixed doubles event the final tomorrow is to be played between sixth seed Korean pair of Yeon Seong Yoo and Min Jung Kim and the seventh seed Malaysian pair of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh.