Second favorite Chen Hong survived by the skin of his teeth to claim a place in the quarterfinals of the Olympic men’s singles badminton as the underdogs made a mockery of the seedings here yesterday. The Chinese second seed, who edged out Xia Xuanze to make the Olympic team due to the world champion’s loss of form, was pushed to a third game by Lee Chong-wei before shaking off the unseeded Malaysian 15-13, 3-15, 15-12.Chen may have squeezed into the semifinals, but three of the top eight seeds were not so lucky on a day full of surprises.
Thailand’s Ponsana Boonsak upset South Korean fifth seed Lee Hyun-Il, Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat claimed the scalp of Malaysian third seed Wong Choong-han and South Korean Park Tae-sang knocked out Chinese fourth seed Bao Chunlai. Ponsana’s defeat of Lee saw him become the first ever Thai to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympic men’s singles.
The 22-year-old won a gripping tussle 15-13, 15-11 and will meet Singaporean Ronald Susilo in the next round.
Susilo, the Japan Open winner and conqueror of Chinese top seed Lin Dan in the first round, beat Germany’s Bjoern Joppien 15-11, 15-6.
Taufik, known for his on-court tantrums, kept his cool even at 5-0 down in the decider to overcome Wong.
The 23-year-old will face Danish sixth seed Peter Gade. Gade, runner-up at the All England Open this year, beat unseeded Indian Nikhil Kanetkar 15-10, 15-6. Park’s prize for toppling Bao is a quarterfinal match against Indonesian eighth seed Soni Dwi Kuncoro, a comfortable 15-7, 15-6 winner over Norway’s Ronny Andersen. Chinese No. 2 seeds Fu Haifeng and Cai Yun were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Olympic men’s doubles badminton after throwing away a commanding lead against Jens Eriksen and Marting Lundgaard.
Fu and Cai took the first game and were leading 11-9 in the second, but the determined Danish fifth seeds refused to throw in the towel and drew on all their fighting spirit to win the next six points and square the match.
At 4-4 in the decider, Eriksen and Lundgaard turned up the heat, taking the next nine points against the wilting Chinese whose form from a one-sided first game had deserted them.
Fu and Cai produced a late run but it was all in vain as the Danes clinched a place in the semi-finals with a 3-15, 15-11, 15-18 win.
Eriksen and Lundgaard will play unseeded South Korean’s Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung, who ripped up the form book in their 11-15, 15-11, 15-9 defeat of Malaysian fourth seeds Choong Tan-fook and Lee Wan-wah.
Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon, the South Korean No. 3 seeds, beat Chinese sixth seeds Zheng Bo and Sang Yang 15-7, 15-11.
Seven of the top eight seeds came through unscathed to pass safely into the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles badminton. The only casualties were Japanese eighth seeds Chikako Nakayama and Keiko Yoshitomi, who lost to 15-4, 15-11 to Sathinee Chankrachangwong and Saralee Thungthongkam of Thailand.
The tournament favorites were taken to a third game but finished with a late surge to beat Indonesian pair Jo Novita and Lita Nurlita 15-2, 6-15, 15-7. Chinese second seeds Huang Sui and Gao Ling ousted Chin Eei-hui and Wong Pei-tty of Malaysia in straight games, while South Korean third seeds Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won overcame Danish pair Pernille Harder and Mette Schjoldager.
Huang and Gao’s win earned them a last eight tie against Danish seventh seeds Ann-Lou Joergensen and Rikke Olsen, who beat Germany’s Nicole Grether and Juliane Schenk.
Ra and Lee face an equally tough contest against Dutch fifth seeds Lotte Bruil and Mia Audina, 15-7, 15-7 winners over British pair Ella Tripp and Joanne Wright.
Tripp and Wright’s compatriots Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg also fell by the wayside, going down 13-15, 15-7, 15-5 to Chinese fourth seeds Zhao Tingting and Wei Yili.
