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Badminton
By Prakash Padukone
But for the fact that in a few of the events there was an all-Chinese clashes in the pre-quarterfinal stage, there would have been more representation from the country. With only two days remaining in the tournament, China is likely to dominate the proceedings by annexing at least three titles. The Indonesians have been a big let down and the solitary Indonesian left in the men's singles, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, lost to the in-form Malaysian southpaw, Wong Choong Hann 8-15, 5-15. China, on the other hand, has a good chance of putting at least three of its top players in the semifinals with Bao Chunlai having already made the grade. Top seeded Chen Hong and former All England champion, Xia Xuanze are the other Chinese players who are tipped to make the semifinals along with Bao. The unseeded Bao, conquerer of third seed, Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, on Thursday, gave yet another sterling display to outlast Roslin Hashim of Malaysia 15-7, 15-10. Bao has impressed one and all with his speed, guile and temperament. His game reminds one of the all time Chinese greats Zhao Jin Hua, who was a force to reckon with in the late eighties and early nineties. Just like Zhao, he is quick, fleet footed & and has a variety of shots. Added to this, Bao has a cool head which makes it that much more difficult for the opponent. He takes his own time between rallies and does not hurry with his strokes unlike some of his compatriots. In short, Bao has all the qualities of a champion in the making. Bao showed this in abundance when he staged a smart recovery in the second game after being down 4-9 to win in straight games. From 10-10 in the second, Bao scored 4 quick points in a row with his jump smashes that completely caught the Malaysian by surprise. At this stage Bao seemed to be in a hurry to finish the match and committed two mistakes on his serve at match point. But Roslin was unable to capitalise on these lapses and conceded victory on the third match point. This will be Bao's maiden entry into the semifinals of World championships.
Aparna crashes out
Meanwhile, the Indian challenge at came to an end on Thursday when Aparna Popat went down 4-11, 5-11 to World No. 2, Zhang Ning of China in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian, who gave a reasonably good account of herself against a vastly superior opponent, fought to the best of her ability and made the Chinese work hard for her points. If only Aparna had a little more self-belief in her game, I think she could have performed better. Neverthless, Aparna's performance here should improve her ranking considerably as this is a 7 star tournament that carries the highest number of points. There were some interesting matches, especially in the men's singles. Unseeded Malaysian Roslin Hashim fought a long battle of 103 minutes before emerging victorious against the eighth seed, Lee Hyun Il of Korea in 3 games. This will certainly be one of the longest men's singles matches ever played, if not the longest. The other major casualty of the day was Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat, the third seed, who put up a listless display against China's Bao Chunlai and went down 9-15, 4-15. It was a damp squib of a match.
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