WORLDS 2011 SF – World #1 in, reigning champ out!

World Number 1 Lee Chong Wei has his eyes fixed on only one colour – GOLD.  This he made crystal clear when he disposed of reigning World Champion Chen Jin of China in a one-sided 21-13, 21-9 match to the credit of the Malaysian superstar.

By Emzi Regala, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Lee Chong Wei (pictured), looking very sharp, quickly built up the momentum and made Chen Jin run around the full court with killer combinations of deceptive cross-court shots and fast high clears, conveniently taking the 1^st game.

The succeeding game was a lopsided match in favour of the Malaysian, who was clearly sending a message to his future opponent in tomorrow’s men’s singles final: he is hungry and he is ready to finally bring home the World Championship gold that has so far eluded him in his otherwise illustrious badminton career.

“This is my first time at a World Championship final and I’ve been training for two weeks at Bath University,” said Lee Chong Wei after winning his semi-final.

“I’ve prepared well and I had to be at my best to beat him today. I certainly want to win the championships.”

“I thought I was so-so,” said Chen Jin.  “He was very good. He was always recovering his court well today. He was in good form. I’ve been in good form too.”

Koreans book a ticket to the finals!

Fresh off the win against Malaysia’s Koo/Tan, Korean second pair of Ko Sung Hyun / Yoo Yeon Seong (pictured) once again did a very good job of dismissing Indonesian tandem Mohammad Ahsan / Bona Septano in 2 games, 21-19, 21-17, forging themselves a ticket to their first ever finals appearance against the defending champions Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng of China or, should fellow countrymen Lee/Jung in the other semi-final, a possible all-Korea showdown for the first time since 1999.

Ko and Yoo left nothing on the court but perspiration and maybe a few skin cells as they took turns diving for the shuttle and even playing net shots from the resultant seated positions.  It is hard to imagine any pair preferring to face the mighty Jung/Lee for a championship but Ko and Yoo have taken the odd match from their compatriots recently, while neither has beaten Cai and Fu in four attempts together, nor in another four apart.

Mixed doubles, women’s doubles and women’s singles will once again feature a red flag in tomorrow’s final matches as China has secured the expected representation in each of these 3 badminton disciplines, with hopes alive for an all-Chinese final only in women’s doubles.

However, in fact, 2009 women’s doubles runner-up Zhao Yunlei became the only repeat finalist from Saturday’s morning session in Wembley Arena, escorting partner Zhang Nan to the mixed final this time.

Last year’s runner-up Wang Xin (pictured), had to cede the final berth to compatriot Wang Yihan in straight games, marking by far the younger shuttler’s best performance at the world meet.

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