Japan Open: Lin Dan, Chen Long sent packing

Lin Dan

Tokyo, June 13 (IANS): Olympic and World champion Lin Dan and World No. 2 Chen Long, both from China, were beaten in the Japan Open badminton quarterfinals Friday.

Lin, the winner of two Olympic, five world and five All-England titles, lost 19-21, 21-13, 16-21 to European champion Jan O. Jorgensen from Denmark, while Chen suffered a 21-18, 19-21, 15-21 loss to Hong Kong player Hu Yun, reports Xinhua.

World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia overcame Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-15, 12-21, 21-17, while Japanese Kenichi Tago downed Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark 21-16, 16-21, 21-13.

Lee faces Tago and Jorgensen meets Hu in the semifinals on Saturday.

In the women's quarter-finals, Olympic champion and top seed Li Xuerui of China beat Spain's Carolina Marin 21-14, 21-12. She will take on South Korea's Sung Ji-Hyun, who beat Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand 13-21, 22-20, 21-11.

Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei eased into the semifinals after Japan's Sayaka Takahashi was injured in the first set.

In the other quarterfinal, Chinese Liu Xin subdued Hong Kong player Yip Pui-yin 19-21, 21-13, 21-14.