Chen clings to All-England badminton title hopes after controversial win

BIRMINGHAM, England (AFP) – Chen Jin clung to his All-England title by the width of a net tape and amidst a storm of booing during a controversial finish to his quarter-final in the All-England Open on Friday.

It looked as though his unseeded Japanese opponent, Sho Sasaki, had come back from a five-point final game deficit to 20-20 when he leapt forward and dismissed a tight net shot from Chen with a lunging kill.

But the third-seeded Chinese player stood and pointed, objecting that there had been a foul, and umpire Mike Wright of New Zealand, after an agonising pause, and a slow gesture, agreed, calling the match to Chen by 14-21, 21-13, 21-19.

Sasaki was stunned, dropped his racquet and complained while Chen shook hands with all the officials.

This brought noisy hoots from the crowd and for a while it looked as though a major incident might blow up, as Chen had completed his formalities and began to make his way towards his kitbag.

But at the last moment, Sasaki got over his frustration, completed his circles of frenzied walking, and shook hands with the champion, and the umpire.

“His racquet definitely touched the net,” said Chen. “Though it wasn’t his fault. It was my game and I am happy to take the point. Just as long as I won it doesn’t matter to me how it happens.”

Earlier, Chen had been in trouble when he went a game and 7-12 down, but suddenly he achieved a better mixture of defence and attack and began coaxing errors from the nimble, patient Sasaki.

Chen was later joined in the semi-finals by Taufik Hidayat, the former Olympic and world champion who reached the All-England final when he was only 17 but in ten years since has never won it.

The controversial Indonesian was trailing by two points in both games against Peter Gade, the former world number one from Denmark, but raised his game brilliantly when it most mattered to secure a 21-17, 21-18 win.

Taufik now plays Lee Chong Wei, the world number one from Malaysia, who conceded only 18 points in beating Ville Lang of Finland, while Chen’s title defence took him to a semi-final with Lin Dan, the Olympic champion.

Chen looked superb as he crushed Joachim Persson, the sixth-seeded Dane, and the only remaining European, by 21-13, 21-6, and then suggested he would be happy to coach any promising European youngsters if they were to come to Beijing.

Two Danes and two Chinese, however, have reached the women’s singles semi-finals, which may be more to the taste of a predominantly European crowd.

Titleholder Tine Rasmussen let slip a frightening seven match points in a row from 20-9 in the final game but still beat Yip Pui Yin of Hongkong 21-17, 18-21, 21-16, thus earning a match with Jiang Yanjiao, one of three surprise survivors.

And in the other semi, Nanna Brosolat, who has progressed further than any previous women’s singles qualifier, plays Wang Yihan, the rising young world number 17.

Wang had already beaten one compatriot who is a former All-England champion, Zhou Mi, and now beat another, Xie Xingfang, 21-9, 21-13.