Taufik, Lin sready for final
Taufik, Lin sready for final
Agencies, Anaheim, California
Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and top-seeded Lin Dan of China advanced to the men's singles final on Saturday at the World Badminton Championship.
No. 6 Taufik swept No. 5 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 15-3, 15-12 and Lin beat third-seeded Peter Gade of Denmark 15-9, 13-15, 15- 11.
The Indonesian said he learnt from watching Lee's quarterfinal win over Bao Chunlai on Friday.
"Today I was able to use what I saw from his game, his mistakes and his weaknesses, in order to achieve what I had to do," Taufik told reporters.
Top-seeded Zhang Ning of China, the defending Olympic and world champion in women's singles, reached the final after an 11- 7, 11-9, semifinal sweep of No. 6 Xu Huaiwen from Germany. Zhang will face the winner of a late semifinal between No. 2 Xie Xingfang of China and Taiwan's Cheng Shao-Chieh.
The women's singles final will match second-seeded Xie Xingfang of China against top-seeded teammate Zhang Ning, the defending Olympic and world champion.
Zhang swept No. 6 Xu Huaiwen from Germany, 11-7, 11-9, but Xie had to come from behind for a 2-11, 11-5, 11-6 victory over Taiwan's Cheng Shao-Chieh.
In the women's doubles final, Olympic champions Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen of China rallied in both games to take the world title away from China's Gao Ling and Huang Sui with a 17-16, 15-7 victory.
Top-seeded Yang and Zhang recovered from a 7-4 deficit in the first game and a 7-1 deficit in the second against second-seeded Gao and Huang, who won the two previous world championships.
In men's doubles, No. 13 Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach became the first Americans to have a shot at a world badminton title, beating No. 4 Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto of Indonesia, 15-9, 15-13.
The Americans will face second-seeded Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto of Indonesia, who recovered from a 9-3 deficit to defeat No. 9 Chan Chong Ming and Koo Kien Keat from Malaysia, 15-9, 15- 11 in the other semifinal.
Candra and Tony won the 2000 Olympic men's doubles gold medal for Indonesia.
Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen of China kept No. 15 Daniel Shirley and Sara Runesten-Petersen from making New Zealand's first appearance in a final with a 15-8, 15-8 semifinal victory in mixed doubles.
Xie and Zhang will face No. 4 Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia - who almost squandered a 12-0 lead in their third game against No. 7 Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam of Thailand before winning 15-9, 3-15, 15-10.