LONDON, MARCH 11: Indian challenge in the All-England Badminton Championships ended when National champion Aparna Popat went down 7-11 1-11 to China's Gong Zhichao in the women's singles third round at Birmingham on Friday.Meanwhile, Dane Peter Gade, the World No 1, lost his title when he was defeated by World No 11 Ji Xinpeng (China) 7-15, 2-15, 5-15 in the quarter-finals.Women's world champion Camilla Martin (Denmark) survived a series of scares before reaching the semi-finals with a 10-13 11-8 11-9 victory over fifth-seeded Chinese Gong Ruina.Gade, who faded away surprisingly in the second and third games, said he was tired after a testing five months of competition but he was also made to work hard in a match which lasted 66 minutes.The long-legged Chinese player never seemed to flag and it was particularly difficult to put the shuttle away against him, not only because of the extent of his reach but the speed of his reactions.A telling point saw Ji advance to 7-4 in the third game when Gade looked certain to make a kill from the mid-court and Ji took one stride and whipped the shuttle back for a cross court winner. He advanced more quickly to victory after that.The result was also an indication of how much Olympic qualification may be influencing results at this stage. With only six more weeks to the Sydney cut-off date, Ji could go on to climb two or three places up the top 10.If he does, it means he will move above world champion Sun Jun, who is sidelined with an ankle injury, putting China's leading player out of the qualifying places, temporarily at least. Gade, however, is safe for Sydney and will now concentrate on getting to the Thomas Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur in May and to the Olympic in decent shape. ``If I was to beat him, I had to be at my best. He didn't make any mistakes, and sometimes you can't do so much about this,'' admitted Gade.``In the second and third games, there was no more left in me. Yesterday was a hard day. Of course, I am disappointed and I would like to have gone to the final, but I can't go on for ever,'' he added.Gade's defeat means that both defending singles champions have gone out within 24 hours of each other. The day before, Yi Zhao Ying, the three-time women'schampion from China, was beaten by the former Indonesian Uber Cup star, Mia Audina, now of The Netherlands.Audina later brought down another seed, Dane Mettes Orensen 11-3 11-7 to earn a semi-final clash with the former world silver medallist from China Gong Zhichao.Ji Xinpeng's win give him an encounter with his compatriot Xia Xuanze, ensuring that, against the odds, there will be a Chinese men's singles finalist.
