Gopi Chand on threshold of glory

BIRMINGHAM, MARCH 10. P. Gopi Chand became the third Indian to reach the final of the prestigious All England badminton championship after a sensational 17-14, 17-15 victory over World number one and top seed Peter Gade Christensen in the semifinal here on Saturday.

In a 72-minute nerve-wracking duel, Gopi enjoyed leads of 13-5 in the first game and 11-4 in the second before overcoming the fighting qualities of the top seed who had struggled from day one here.

The results (Quarterfinals, prefix denotes seedings) :

Men's singles: 1-Peter Gade Christensen (Den) bt Chen Yu (Chn) 15-12, 15-3; 10-Pullela Gopi Chand (Ind) bt 11- Anders Boesen (Den) 15-11, 15-7; 12-Chen Hong (Chn) bt 8-Kenneth Jonassen (Den) 15-5, 15-9; 6-Muhammad Roslin Hashim (Mas) bt 2- Xia Xuanze (Chn) 15-8, 15-6.

Women's singles: 6-Zhou Mi (Chn) bt 1- Camilla Martin (Den) 7-11, 11-8, 11-7; 3-Dai Yun (Chn) bt Wang Rong (Chn) 11-2, 11-3; 4-Gong Ruina (Chn) bt 8-Marina Andrievskaya (Swe) 11-6, 11-9; 2-Gong Zhichao (Chn) bt Julia Mann (Eng) 11-5, 11-9.

Men's doubles: 1-Eng Hian & Flandy Limpele (Ina) bt 7-Michael Lamp & Jonas Rasmussen (Den) 15-10, 15-7; Tony Gunawan & Halim Heryanto (Ina) bt 4-Martin Lundgaard Hansen & Lars Paaske (Den) 15-4, 15-6; 3-Choong Tan Fook & Lee Wan Wah (Mas) bt 6-Jim Laugesen & Michael Sogaard (Den) 13-15, 15-11, 15-6; Sigit Budiarto & Chandra Wijaya (Ina) bt 2-Jens Eriksen & Jesper Larsen (Den) 15-13, 15-8.

Women's doubles: Seiko Yamada & Shizuka Yamamoto (Jpn) w/o Lee Kyung Won & Ra Kyung-Min (Kor); Wei Lili & Zhang Jiewen (Chn) bt Erica van den Heuvel & Nicole van Hooren (Ned) 15-5, 15-4; 3-Chen Lin & Jiang Xuelian (Chn) bt 7-Nicole Grether & Nicol Pitro (Ger) 15-12, 15-6; Gao Ling & Huang Sui (Chn) bt Hwang Yoo-Mee & Lee Hyo-Jung (Kor) 15-1, 15-5.

Mixed doubles: 1-Michael Sogaard & Rikke Olsen (Den) bt Trikus Haryanto & Indarti Isoliana (Ina) 15-7, 15- 6; 7-Simon Archer & Gail Emms (Eng) bt Bambang Suprianto & Minarti Timur (Ina) 13-15, 15-10, 15-10; 3-Jens Erikzen & Mette Scholdager (Den) bt Cheng Rui & Wei Yili (Chn) 15-6, 15-5; 2- Zhang Jun & Gao Ling (Chn) bt Liu Yong & Cheng Jiao (Chn) 5-15, 15-12, 15-10.

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