Birdievents.com

It was designed to revenge his defeat last week in 2011 Hong Kong Open.  Yet, it is another losing record for Chong Wei. 

The world number one player could not maintain his performance after he captured the first set, 21-19.  Lin Dan played calm and deceptive to end Chong Wei's hope 21-12 and 21-11.  This is the second time for Chong Wei to miss the final stage of international badminton event this year and his back to back lost to same player in the same month.

On the other end, Chen Long easily wins his match of Simon Santoso (Indonesia) in straight set 21-14 21-14. Chen Long is aiming for his forth super-series title this year, while his final opponent, Lin Dan has two titles.  Neither can catch Chong Wei, who has a season leading five Superseries tournament victories from wins in the Malaysia Open, All England, India Open, Indonesia Open and French Open, but at stake is second spot in the OSIM BWF World Superseries rankings.  In the world ranking, Chen Long is currently second with 71,980 points, 1,690 points ahead of Lin Dan. Chong Wei is far ahead with 82,520 points.

Indonesia's Simon Santoso notched his second top-seeded victim in as many days to advance to the semi-finals at the China Open Friday, as he ousted Danish ace Peter Gade in three games.

"I'm happy because the last (time) I met him in Japan I (lost). Many times I lose (to) him. And then I can beat him, and win today," said the 26-year-old, after he dispatched with the tournament's fourth seed, 15-21, 21-15, 21-16.

In thirteen previous head-to-heads over four and a half years, Santoso has beaten Gade just three times.

But this week the 26-year-old Santoso is on fire, and Thursday he slayed teammate Taufik Hidayat, the eighth seed, in another close three-game match.

"I just play and enjoy and relax and then I must (be) confident because I'm the last Indonesian in singles," said Santoso, who won many of his points against Gade with hard slams.

"Very close, I must attack," Santoso said about his game strategy against Gade, who struggled through earlier rounds in the tournament.

But against Santoso, the Danish shuttler started strongly and was destined for victory mid-way into the second game.

"Simon is a good player. When I'm not playing at my top speed, you know, he can come into the match and he can do, he can play his game... It was difficult coming into the match with two hard matches. I gave my best and that's it."

As he left the court, the Dane put his hand up to a cheering crowd, which, moments before had been chanting "Peter, Peter" as he mounted an unsuccessful comeback in the third game.

In the semi-finals on Saturday Santoso will face the winner of the all-China showdown between second seed Chen Long and fifth seed Chen Jin.

"I try my best for tomorrow," Santoso said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Malaysia pair, Koo/Tan still could not answer to Korean secondary pair Ko/Yoo.  They lost in three set 21-18 12-21 and 17-21.  Will the new coach of this Malaysian pair be fired again from this repeat disappointing result?

- AFP/ir

The Badminton Federation defended Thursday the shuttlecocks being used at this week's China Open in Shanghai following a series of complaints from players.

Tournament referee Isabelle Jobard said the three types of shuttles in tournament use, each with their own speed, had been calibrated by how far they flew when hit by an average player and no speed problems were detected.

On Wednesday the women's singles fifth seed Jiang Yanjiao from China said "because the temperature of the stadium is cool, so the speed of the shuttle is very slow", after losing to Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva.

Winning players on Thursday also chimed in to the debate: "a little slow," said first seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia after dispatching with his second round opponent.

Men's doubles first seeds Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, said after their victory they thought the speed of the shuttle was forcing them to play a game of strength and limiting their ability to craft their strokes.

Jobard, a physicist and expert in her field at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and badminton official as a hobby, explained that because the shuttles are made of duck feathers they are especially sensitive to humidity.

"It's just like hair... when it's humid or dry your hair is different and the feathers are (the) same material as hair", she said, adding that the tests carried out were not scientific.

The size of the Yuan Sheng Stadium in Shanghai was an important factor affecting shuttle speed, players said.

"Because the stadium is big, so the shuttle is relatively slow and that is why we have so many long rallies," said Chen Long of China, the men's single's second seed who beat Dane Hans-Kristian Vittingus to reach the quarter-finals.

Peter Gade of Denmark, the number eight men's doubles seed who also advanced Thursday to the quarter finals agreed. "This is a very slow stadium. It's always been like that," said Gade. "It's not a fast playing hall."

"If the hall is packed with a big crowd and the temperature is rising and gets to 25 degrees (77 degrees Fahrenheit), then we might change the speed of the shuttle," Jobard said.

Currently, she said, the stadium was a chilly 20-21 degrees Celsius (68-69 degrees Fahrenheit).