Sport - Asian Games   

Gopi Chand in quarterfinals

By A. Vinod

BUSAN Oct. 11. India No. 1 and former all-England champion P. Gopi Chand made short work of Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 17-15, 15-6 and advanced into the men's quarterfinals of the badmintion events of the 14th Asian Games at the Gangseo indoor stadium courts on Friday.

The Indian, required just a little over 55 minutes, before he overcame a slow start and his fighting rival.

The Thai player with his quick footwork and some crafty play at the net seemed to trouble Gopi Chand before the Indian took the first set on extended points.

However, in the second set, Ponsana who had run out of steam by then was no match for Gopi Chand, who impressed with a steady all-round display.

Meanwhile, World champion Hendrawan (Indonesia), who had whipped Abhinn Shyam Gupta on Thursday, continued his cruise in smooth fashion as he defeated Ronald Susilo (Singapore) easily at 15-8, 15-5.

Also making grade was Commonwealth Games champion Muhammed Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia who pulled off a major upset over the current all-England champion Chen Hong of China 15-7, 11-15, 15-5.

Yet another notable winner of the day was Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia who required just 27 minutes to prevail over Keita Masuda (Japan).

The results:

Men's singles (second round): Taufik Hidayat (Ina) bt Keita Masuda (Jpn) 15-3, 15-2; Xia Xuanze (Chn) bt Tes Fac Sing (Tmp) 15-2, 15-1; Hendrawan (Ina) bt Ronald Susilo (Sin) 15-8, 15-5; Lee Hyun-Il (Kor) bt Anuphap Theeraratsakul (Tha) 15-4, 15-4; Choong Hann Wong (Mas) bt Ng Wei (Hkg) 15-8, 3-15, 15-5; Shon Seung-Mo (Kor) bt Lok Tin Tam (Hkg) 15-4, 15-4; Muhammed Hafiz (Mas) bt Chen Hong (Chn) 15-7, 11-15, 15-5; P. Gopi Chand (Ind) bt Boonsak Ponsana (Tha) 17-15, 15-6.

Women's singles (quarterfinals): Wang Chen (Hkg) bt Jun Jae-Youn (Kor) 11-1, 11-0; Zhou Mi (Chn) bt Kanako Yonekura (Jpn) 11-4, 11-0; Gong Ruina (Chn) bt Li Li (Sin) 11-1, 11-5; Kim Kyeung-Ran (Kor) bt Ng Mee Fen (Mas) 11-1, 11-7.

Mixed doubles (quarterfinals): Kim Dong-Moon/Ra Kyung-Min (Kor) bt Sudket Prapakamol/Sathinee Jankrajangwong (Tha) 11-4, 11-4; Chen Qiqiu/Zhang Jie Wen (Chn) bt Harjanto Trikus/Emma Ermawati (Ina) 6-11, 11-6, 11-9; Khunakorn Sudhisodhi/Saralee Thoungthongkam (Tha) bt Lee Jae-Jin/Hwang Yu-Mi (Kor) 11-9, 10-13, 11-9; Widhianto Nova/Marissa Vita (Ina) bt Zhang Jun/Gao Ling (Chn) 11-7, 11-4.

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