Defending champions Lee Chong Wei and Tine Rasmussen struggled into the Japan Open quarter-finals yesterday with the Malaysian world No. 1 one complaining of post-Olympics fatigue.
Lee survived a second-game fightback by local hope Sho Sasaki to win 21-7, 22-20 while Denmark’s Rasmussen came from behind to beat China’s Wang Lin 10-21, 21-11, 21-18.
Lee, who lost last month’s Olympic final to China’s Lin Dan, had also looked unconvincing in his first-round 25-23, 21-8 win over unfancied Chinese Zhu Weilun.
“I still feel tired as I only took a week off after the Olympics and prepared for this tournament as I wanted to take part in as many events as possible,” the 25-year-old said.
“I lost my concentration and wound down after an 11-3 lead in the second game. That’s why I was overtaken that way,” he said.
Lee faces a first ever match-up with China’s 150th-ranked Qiu Yanbo in the last eight.
“I may recover from fatigue somewhat in due course. But whether or not I am tired, I want to take one match at a time in a careful manner,” he said.
Qiu progressed when fifth-seeded Indonesian Simon Santoso pulled out with back pain when 21-10, 8-6 down. Santoso injured his back in winning last week’s Taiwan Open.
In other men’s matches, Indonesian second seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro outclassed Sairul Amar Ayob 21-8, 21-7 to face another Malaysian, Muhammad Roslin Hashim, who beat Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 21-17, 21-15.
Ex-Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat beat Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen 21-10, 21-12 to set up a quarter-final with European championship runner-up Joachim Persson, who overcame Tommy Sugiarto 21-14, 21-15.
Rasmussen, the All-England winner and women’s second seed, needed 48 minutes to overcome Wang as top-seeded Lu Lan of China made short work of Japan’s Kaori Imabeppu 21-7, 21-8.
“I had to work really hard and, maybe, I didn’t play too clever,” said Rasmussen, 29, whose career has blossomed after winning her first major title in Tokyo last year.
“I think I was against the [air conditioners’] wind in the first game and I didn’t get enough length. So Wang could just stand on it and put pressure on me,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen faces a tough quarter-final against Hong Kong’s world silver medallist Wang Chen, who reached the last eight on a walkover against China’s Jiang Yanjiao.
“I think it’s going to be a 50-50, open-ended match,” said the Dane, who has already won three Super Series events this year in Malaysia, England and Singapore.
“I have to adjust many things and I have to play better if I want to win.”
The US$200,000 Japan Open is the seventh leg of badminton’s 12-round Super Series.
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
RSS