© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng are the only seeded players left in the men’s singles last eight at All England.
While the opening round saw the exit of Viktor Axelsen, going down to Lin Chun Yi, Lin himself perished late on Thursday in straight sets 21-10, 21-18 to Kenta Nishimoto. Jonathan Christie, defending champ and third seed was ousted by Lakshya Sen, but the notable evicted on Thursday were Kunlavut Vitidsarn (seeded 5) going down to Alex Lanier, 22-20, 21-15 and second seed Anders Antonsen losing to Wang Tzu Wei 21-10, 21-13.
Lee Zii Jia, seeded 7th, had lost in round of 32 to Ng Ka Long Angus, while Kodai Naraoka didn’t survive the first round bloodbath either, losing to compatriot Yushi Tanaka.
Top seed Shi Yuqi might not feel too safe with the unpredictable bounce bunny Loh Kean Yew lining up, and Li Shifeng is thoroughly beatable by Sen, with the Indian winning 7, losing 4. Sen has won the last two at French Open and Thomas Cup.
No churn has been as devastating as men’s doubles, with all top names ousted.
Chinese 6th seeds He-Ren and Taiwanese Lee-Yang (8th seeds and not to be confused with Olympic champions) survived. Massive reshuffles have happened in pairings, and two Korean and two Indonesian quarterfinalists are mix-matched, also meaning all are unseeded.
Half-Daddies Hendra Setiawan is now coach and saw the immediate impact as Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani mentored by him made Last 8, first beating Olympic silver medallists Liang-Wang and then getting rid of second Chinese Huang-Liu.
Korean world champion Seo Seung-jae jaw-droppingly made his first quarter, after first win at All England in five years, and with Kim Wan Ho is slotted to take on Chinese Xie-Zeng. Another China vs Korean final sees the absolute box-office pair of Kang Min Hyuk with Ki Dong Ju (snazziest hairdo) take on Ke-Ren at the Minoru Yoneyama court.
The second Indonesian pair sees former All-England champ Bagas Maulana team up with Leo Carnando against Taiwanese Lee-Yang.
Women’s singles have no such earthquakes, though it sees the maximum famous names missing – from injured defending champion Carolina Marin to retired Tai Tzu Ying.
Seven of eight seeds are in quarters, the sole unseeded being Tokyo Olympics champ Chen Yufei who plays An Se Young. The other battles: intergenerational Tomoka Miyazaki vs struggling Akane Yamaguchi, Tunjung vs Han Yue and Chochuwong vs Wang Zhi Yi which means 3 Chinese in Last 8.
There’s also 3 Chinese and 3 Japanese in women’s doubles, with 6 of 8 seeds going through. Treesa-Gayatri and Tan-Thinaah are the underdogs challenging seeds 3 and 2 respectively.
Mixed doubles have interesting names lining up. The Mairs couple from England, Jenny and Gregory. And the Indonesian disruptors – Rehan Kusharjanto who mans the net, and the super tall Gloria Widjaja who attacks incessantly from the back. Tom Giquel and Delphi Delrue are looking for their first All-England breakthrough, while Huang Dong Ping is looking to make headway with Jiang against the second couple in the quarters, Lai-Goh of Malaysia.
