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DOHA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Traditional powerhouse China
saw three seeds crash out of the badminton quarter-finals at the 15th Asian
Games on Thursday.
The men's singles third seed Bao Chunlai failed to block off an active Taufik Hidayat, losing to the Indonesian Olympic champion 21-16, 21-14.
The 25-year-old Indonesian top player is going to
fight for a final berth against second-seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who
finished off Thai top shuttler Boonsak Ponsana 20-22, 21-11 and 21-7.
In the first men's singles quarter-final match, Chinese Lin Dan nipped eighth-seeded Ng Wei from Hong Kong of China 21-15, 21-13.
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Lin Dan of China returns the shuttle back during the badminton men's singles quarterfinal against Ng Wei of Chinese Hong Kong at Doha Asiad, Qatar, Dec. 7, 2006. Lin beat his opponent 2-0. (Xinhua Photo)
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The top seed, nicknamed "Super Dan", is going to
clash with South Korean star Lee Hyun Il, who smashed Hashim Muhammad Hafiz of
Malaysia 22-20, 21-6.
In the women's quarter-finals, 19-year-old Yip Pui
Yin from Hong Kong of China ousted top seed and reigning Olympic champion Zhang
Ning in straight sets.
Chinese world number two Xie Xingfang got away with a
win over Eriko Hirose of Japan 21-7, 22-24 and 21-16. The tired world champion
will face in-form Wang Chen from Hong Kong of China, who defeated South Korean
Lee Yun Hwa, 23-21, 21-8.
China suffered most in the men's doubles
quarter-finals, as their two pairs including top seeds Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng
were both eliminated on Thursday.
World champions Cai and Fu arrived in Doha as hot
favorites. but lost to Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia 21-9, 21-19
in the pairs' first encounter.
A few minutes later, Chinese Guo Zhendong and Zheng
Bo failed to hold back the attack from Indonesian fifth-seeded Luluk
Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto Chandra in a three-set combat.
In Friday's semis, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong
will challenge Indonesian Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan. Luluk Hadiyanto and
Alvent Yulianto Chandra are going to fight against Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong
Dae from South Korea.
Nevertheless, China didn't lose their firepower in
the mixed doubles and women's events.
After knocking off the top seeded mixed doubles
shuttlers Nova Widianto and Liliyana from Indonesia, newly-combined Zheng Bo and
Gao Ling set up a duel with Malaysian M Tazari Mohd Fairuzizuan and Wong Pei
Tty.
The third-seeded Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen wasted
little timein defeating Malaysian Koo Kien Keat and Quay Swee Ling 21-9,
21-5.The Chinese pair will take on second-seeded Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee
Thoungthongkam from Thailand in the semifinals.
Gao Ling/Huang Sui and Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewei entered
the women's semifinals. World number one Gao and Huang will meet the challenge
from South Korean arch-rivals Lee Kyung Won and Lee Hyo Jung. Yang and Zhang
will fight against Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota from Japan. | 
