Gopi Chand enters quarterfinals

BIRMINGHAM, MARCH 9. Pullela Gopi Chand cruised through to his first- ever quarterfinal round of the All England Open badminton championship with an authoritative 15-3, 15-9 victory over the Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng at the National Indoor Arena here on Thursday.

The 10th-seeded Indian National champion, who beat Colin Haughton of England 15-7, 15-4 in the pre-quarterfinals, took just 32 minutes to subdue the third-seeded Chinese and will now run into Dane Anders Boesen who scalped the fifth seed and one of the favourites for the title, Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia who had finished runner-up to Chinese Xia Xuanze last year.

Gopi missed last year's championships due to typhoid while he lost in the first round to Chinese Xia Xuanze in 1999. In 1998 and 1997, he made the pre-quarterfinals, losing to Malaysian Yong Hock Kin and Chinese Luo Yigang respectively.

``I had beaten him twice already in the last two years and I knew that I could do it again'', said Gopi Chand of his victory over the Olympic champion. ``I just had to keep the shuttle down as much as possible,'' said the 27-year-old Indian star who now joins a select band of players back home to have made the last- eight stage of this prestigious championship. The only Indian to have won the title is Prakash Padukone.

Apart from Gopi Chand's win over Ji Xinpeng, and the upset of Hidayat at the hands of Boesen, one more prominent seed went out on the second day when the players had to go through two rounds of matches in the singles. Olympic silver medallist Hendrawan of Indonesia, seeded fourth, was beaten by Chinese Chen Hong. The top seed, Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark had another tough match as he overcame Indonesian Rony Agustinus 17- 14, 15-10, but he had been advocating the theory here that anything could happen in these championships, being particularly critical of the schedule which put two matches in singles on the second day. He had warned that Ji Xinpeng could well fall before they met. That is what happened.

Live telecast DD Sports will telecast the semi-finals live on March 11 from 1830 to 2330 hrs. The final on March 12 will be telecast deferred live on the channel, which has acquired the exclusive telecast rights of the championship for five years from 2001 to 2005, according to a press release. The finals will be telecast at midnight from 0030 to 0530. Both the semifinals will be repeated at 1900 hrs on March 16 and 17 and again at 2000 hrs on March 26 and 27.

lThe results: (prefix denotes seedings): Men's singles (third round): 1-Peter Gade Christensen (Den) bt Ronny Agustinus (Ina) 17-14, 15-10; Chen Yu (Chn) bt Son Seung-Mo (Kor) 17-16, 15-11; 10-P. Gopi Chand (Ind) bt 3-Ji Xinpeng (Chn) 15-3, 15-9; 11- Anders Boesen (Den) bt 5-Taufik Hidayat (Ina) 15-13, 15-10; 8- Kenneth Jonassen (Den) bt Ramesh Nathan (Mas) 15-6, 15-8; 12-Chen Hong (Chn) bt 4-Hendrawan (Ina) 15-13, 15-3; 6-Roslin Hashim (Mas) bt Rasmus Wengberg (Swe) 15-6, 15-1; 2-Xia Xuanze (Chn) bt 16-Budi Santoso (Ina) 15-4, 15-5.

Women's singles (Third round): 1-Camilla Martin (Den) bt Pi Hongyan (Chn) 12-13, 11-1, 11-1; 6-Zhou Mi (Chn) bt Brenda Beenhakker (Ned) 11-0, 11-6; 3-Dai Yun (Chn) bt Ling Wan Ting (Hkg) 13-10, 11-4; Wang Rong (Chn) bt Judith Meulenddijks (Ned) 11-6, 9-11, 11-5; 8-Marina Andrievskaya (Swe) bt Miho Tanaka (Jpn) 8-11, 11-4, 11-7; 4-Gong Ruina (Chn) bt Mia Audina Tjiptawan (Ned) 10-13, 11-6, 13-10; Julia Mann (Eng) bt Yuli Marfuah (Ina) 11-6, 7-11, 11-5; 2-Gong Zhichao (Chn) bt Park Hyo- Sun (Kor) 11-1, 11-2.

Second round: Camilla Martin (Den) bt Charmaine Reid (Can) 11-0, 11-1; Pi Hongyan (Chn) bt Marketa Koudelkova (Cze) 11-1, 11-0; Zhou Mi (Chn) bt Tracey Hallam (Eng) 11-5, 11-5; Brenda Beenhakker bt Anu Weckstrom (Fin) 11-3, 13-12; Dai Yun (Chn) bt Jill Pittard (Eng) 11-4, 11-0; Ling Wan Ting (Hkg) bt Kaori Mori (Jpn) 2-11, 11-7, 11-5; Juidth Meulendijks (Ned) bt 7-Kanako Yonekura (Jpn) 11-4, 11-9; Wang Rong (Chn) bt Ellen Angelina (Ina) 11-0, 11-3; Miho Tanaka (Jpn) bt Kelly Morgan (Wal) 11-7, 13-11; Marina Andrievskaya (Swe) bt Katy Brydon (Eng) 11-1, 11-1; Mia Audina Tjiptawan (Ned) bt Koon Wai Chee (Hkg) 11-2, 11-9; Gong Ruina (Chn) bt Katja Michalowsky (Ger) 11-4, 11-1; Yuli Marfuah (Ina) bt Anne Marie Pedersen (Den) 11-5, 11-6; Julia Mann (Eng) bt 5-Wang Chen (Hkg) 2-2 (retd); Park Hyo-Sun (Kor) bt Mika Anjo (Jpn) 11-8, 11-1; Gong Zhichao (Chn) bt Tine Rasmussen (Den) 11-3, 11-2.

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