Sports
        

Team China

Super Dan out of Indonesia Badminton Open

Updated: 2011-06-24 14:53

(Xinhua)

Twitter Facebook Myspace Yahoo! Linkedin Mixx

JAKARTA - Japan's Sho Sasaki stunned badminton's most decorated player, Lin Dan, 21-12, 21-18 in the second round of the Indonesia Open Superseries on Thursday.

Lin's defeat continued the wave of bad news for the Chinese camp as women's world No. 1 Wang Shixian was also shown the door at the event, a day after world No. 2 and Singapore Open Superseries champion Wang Xin, was knocked out of the 600,000 US dollars tournament.

Despite Lin's exit, China still have three players left in the men's singles with Chen Long, Du Pengyu and world champion Chen Jin still in with a chance of winning the Superseries title.

Likewise, there are still three Chinese shuttlers left in the women's singles draw, namely Liu Xin, world No. 3 Wang Yihan and Jiang Yanjiao.

Sasaki, who has twice defeated Chen this year, promised in April that he will do everything in his power to close the gap on Lin after suffering four consecutive defeats to the three-time world champion. And he did just that on Thursday, beating the reigning Olympic and Asian Games gold medallist in 39 minutes.

"I was patient today. We have met twice this year at the Badminton Asia Championships and Sudirman Cup, but I narrowly lost on both occasions," said the Australia Open champion. "I'm tried hard against him in the past and I'm glad that I was successful this time."

Lin, who has been plagued by stomach problems since last week's Singapore Open, even conceded that final to Chen after being diagnosed with gastroenteritis.

Many had accused him of throwing that match in order to help Chen gain valuable qualifying points for the Olympics, a charge Lin has vehemently denied and his loss here, seemed to confirmed that all is not right with 'Super Dan', who would have met Chen if he had won.

"No excuses, Sasaki deserved to win. I didn't deliberately lose," said a disappointed Lin.

"For now, I will have to go and see a doctor when I get back to see what's wrong with my stomach. I need to take a good rest before I decide on the next course of action."

E-paper

Franchise heat

Foreign companies see huge opportunities for business

Stitched up for success
The king's speech
Tough sail

European Edition

Specials

Premier Wen's European Visit

Premier Wen visits Hungary, Britain and Germany June 24-28.

My China story

Foreign readers are invited to share your China stories.

Singing up a revolution

Welshman makes a good living with songs that recall the fervor of China's New Beginning.

Vice-President visits Italy
Sky is the limit
Quest for green growth