Wing Ki delivers knockout blow to Chen Jin

Chen Jin’s hopes of reaching the London Olympics were dented on Thursday when he was knocked out in the third round of the Yonex German Open by Wong Wing Ki (below).

Wing Ki, who also stunned Lin Dan in last year’s Denmark Open, was in superb form to claim a 21-9, 21-17, victory which sets him up with a quarter-final match with Jan O Jorgensen.
Chen Jin, who is currently ranked No. 5 in the world, needed to go all the way in this tournament to give himself a chance of qualifying for the Olympics as he is chasing Lin Dan and Chen Long, who are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.
Each country can only have three shuttlers in the men’s singles competition at the Olympics if they are ranked among the top four, failing which, only two entries if the players are in the top 16.
As such, 2010 world champion Chen Jin could miss the boat.
Not that he could have many complains as his form since winning the world title in 2010 has been erratic while players such as Wing Ki no longer fear him. This was evident from their third round match with the Hong Kong player dominating right from the start.
Sixth seed Jorgensen (left), meanwhile, has been on top of his game for the last three months and will fancy reaching the final. If he can beat Wing Ki, then he will face the winner of the Simon Santoso-Shon Wan Ho match-up.
Top seed Lin Dan had no problems on Thursday, brushing aside England’s Carl Baxter and Spain’s Pablo Abian in straight games. He will now face Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus for a place in the semi-finals.
Doubles specialist Lee Yong Dae made it the last eight of the men’s and mixed doubles competition.
Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung, who are the top seeds in the men’s doubles, led two other South Korean pairs into the last eight. Japan also have three pairs in the quarter-finals with China and Indonesia completing the line-up.
In the mixed doubles, Yong Dae and Ha Jung Eun (right), are also one of three South Korean pairs in the quarter-finals and they will meet Germany’s Michael Fuchs-Birgit Michels for a place in the semi-finals.
In the women’s singles event, Singapore’s Gu Juan stunned eighth seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in straight games to progress to the next round.