WORLDS 2011 R16 – Schenk starts shaking the boat

Once again Juliane Schenk (photo) crashed the hopes of a Chinese player, this time none other than Jiang Yanjiao, one of the highest ranked figures in the women’s game. Sho Sasaki will get a chance to confirm his win over Lin Dan last June, after a tough win against Du Pengyu. The UK flag will keep on flying high on quarter-finals day with Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier running again through the draw, having their major breakthrough together.

By Tarek Hafi, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

China will certainly focus their women’s singles training on how to get rid of Germany’s Juliane Shenk, who is looking like the new Public Enemy against China’s top players. It’s starting to become a habit, and thumbs up are seen from all over the badminton world – except from China, of course. Juliane Schenk has joined Tine Baun as one of the “Chinese-killers” from Europe, as she had a majestic win over Jiang Yanjiao, the 4^th seed in London and quite a long-time Chinese A-team resident.

Even if the skillful Chinese girl came on court with the psychological advantage of having won their last encounter in June, it was a clear run from the German, except for a terrible second game.  Apart from that, Juliane Schenk just didn’t leave any hopes for the Chinese, and won it 21-14, 7-21, 21-17.

“This feels fantastic to beat another top Chinese. I knew I could do it, but now I am in the quarter-finals of the World Championships,” said Schenk. “I felt like I played really well today. Much better than last time I played against her in Thailand a few weeks ago. She had beaten me then but I was injured in the second game. This time, it was tough, but I wanted this win. I am the first one to beat a Chinese player in the women’s singles event. I hope more will follow so that we can make it a more even event between China and the rest of the world.”

It is a bad draw for Europe, as Schenk’s next opponent is set to be Tine Baun, after she took three games to defeat Sung Ji Hyun of Korea in one of the last matches of the evening. Pi Hongyan, on her end, got one step closer to her best result which saw her get a World Championship bronze medal, as she showed she was still the boss against Japan’s Sayaka Sato. Saina Nehwal didn’t have to play the full match as Yip Pui Yin withdrew half way into the second game because of a foot injury. She will take on Wang Xin in the quarter-final.

It’s  Sho-w time!

Sho Sasaki (photo) entertained the draw today again with a very tough win over China’s Du Pengyu in a tremendous one hour and fifteen minute fight. The Japanese Samurai succeeded in confirming his great form, which had seen him win at the U.S. Open earlier this summer after beating Lin Dan and Chen Jin in the Indonesia Open only days before that. Things seemed to turn against the Japanese when a match point was granted to the Chinese in the second game. Unable to convert the precious single point, Du Pengyu was forced to start from scratch after Sho claimed the second game.

Devoid of strength in the rubber, Du Pengyu was nowhere near his opponent’s level and had to just give up on the ticket to the last eight granted at the end of the match, as Sho won with scores of 10-21, 24-22, 21-10. Sho Sasaki is now set to meet Lin Dan in the following round, an awaited and promising encounter, since the Japanese belongs to the very short list of players who have beaten the Olympic champion.

UK flag continues to fly

The crowd will still have a reason to shout as Great Britain representatives Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock (photo)  reached the quarter-final after a tight battle against Japan’s Reiko Shiota and Shintaro Ikeda, in an awaited encounter for Chris Adcock, who knew all along they were clearly able to reach the last eight, after they’d earned a convincing win against this pair back at the All England this year.

Despite stepping on the court with confidence, the British pair struggled in the first stage of the game, Ikeda and Shiota taking more risks and getting on the attack more quickly than their opponents to take the first game. However, Adcock and Bankier would not let go of the chance to shine in front of their home crowd and despite the first game loss 17-21, the following two games were to end  in the locals’ pocket 21-15 , 21-16. They will meet China’s Tian and Tao for a first medal in a World Championships for either pair.

All results HERE

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