Fancied HK belle smashes Chinese rival for semis s

Fancied Wang Chen of Hong Kong wore down Hu Ting of China with a combination of smashing winners and fine drop shots in the third game to carve out an 11-9, 4-11, 11-3 victory yesterday and advance to the semifinal round of the ladies singles in the JVC Asian Badminton Championships at the Philsports Arena.

Forced into a close game in the opener and then dragged into a deciding match by her unranked but gutsy rival, the pony-tailed Wang flaunted her real form in the third game, racing to a 9-1 lead before clinching the victory when Hu’s backhand return caught the net.

That set her up against another unseeded player, Dong Fang, also of China, who pulled off one of the three reversals with 12 of the 20 events completed in the quarterfinal round of the $150,000 championships sponsored by Japanese electronic giant JVC.

Like Wang, Dong won the first game, dropped the next but took complete control of fourth-ranked Mori Kaori of Japan in the decider to fashion out an 11-3, 3-11, 11-3 victory. The other semis match pits third seed Zhang Ning of China, who beat Taiwanese Huang Chia-chih, 11-4, 11-7, against No. 5 Ling Wang-ting of Hong Kong, who escaped with a 13-12, 11-8 victory over Chinese Tang Chunyue.

Lin Dan, the 18-year-old Chinese find who shocked Indon star Taufik Hidayat Thursday, turned back Malaysian Ayob Sairul Amar, 15-8, 10-15, 15-11, in a marathon duel of the unfancied bets to barge into the semifinal round of the men’s singles event.

In an action-packed game that took 77 minutes to finish and where 34 shuttlecocks were used, Lin, a second stringer on China’s national team, came through with overhead winners and crosscourt returns in the third game to prevail and gain a crack at the finals berth.

He faces No. 8 Korean Shon Seung Mo, who battled back from a set down to snatch a 6-15, 17-14, 15-9 victory over Chinese Wu Yunyong heading into weekend play of the five-day championships sponsored by Japanese electronic giant JVC and held under the auspices of the Asian Badminton Confederation and the Philippine Badminton Association.

Singapore’s Indra Wijaya scored a big 15-6, 15-3 rout of No. 6 Agus Hariyanto of Hong Kong to set up a semis clash with Chinese Xia Xuan Ze, who pulled off an 82-minute thriller of a win over Malaysian Lee Tsuen Seng, 11-15, 15-9, 15-10.

In the mixed doubles, the top seeded pair of Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min of Korea outclassed Hong Kong’s Njoto Susanto and Wang Chen for a 15-7, 5-2 (ret.) win to arrange an interesting semis clash with fancied Indons Tony Gunawan and Vita Marissa, who beat China’s Cheng Rui and Hang Sui, 15-11, 15-10.

The Indons assured themselves of a stint in the mixed doubles finals as Trikus Harjanto and Emma Ermawati beat Taiwanese Chien Yu-Hsun and Cheng Wen Hsing, 15-8, 15-9; while the second seeded tandem of Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur scored a 15-8, 17-14 victory over Chinese Zheng Bo and Zhang Yawen in the other quarterfinal match.

Yesterday’s games will be shown on Channel 13 today starting at 3 p.m. while NBN Channel 4 will air the games beginning at 4 p.m. Although the TV coverage will be on a delayed basis, it is expected to help promote and popularize the sport where local officials believe the Filipinos, given the proper motivation, training and support, can excel in international competitions.

Tickets are available at all National Bookstore branches, Robinson’s Ermita and Ortigas, Music Museum and at the Tower Records outlets in Makati and Alabang.

The last of the Filipino pair – Ian Piencenaves and Arolas Amahit – dropped a 1-15, 8-15 decision to the fancied Indon tandem of Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya in one of the round of 16 matches of the men’s doubles event last Thursday night.

Still being played at presstime are the quarterfinal matches in the ladies doubles and the men’s doubles events of this championships organized by IMG and backed by Yonex, Manila Galleria Suites, 96.3 DW Rock, 103.5 K Lite and The Philippine STAR.