Victor Lai
It was a day to forget for the top seeds at the Canada Open badminton championships at the Markham Pan Am centre.
Mixed doubles top seeds Presley Smith-Jennie Gai of the USA, women’s singles top seed Michell Li of Canada and her teammate, the men’s singles favourite Victor Lai were all given the boot in the semi-finals.
Lai, who broke new grounds for Canada by winning the Indonesian Open a month ago, was beaten by Japan’s Yudai Okimoto. Okimoto carved out a 15-21, 21-16, 21-11 win after a 89-minute encounter. It was his second career win over Lai.
He had also beaten the Canadian top seed in their only previous meeting at the Korea Masters last year.
Okimoto will take on teammate Riki Takei in the final. Takei had overcome Malaysian ace Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 18-21, 21-18 in a gripping 70-minute semi-final match-up.
Takei, had lost to Zii Jia at the recent Australian Open in another three match encounter.
Four-time champion and home favourite Li, was beaten in her women’s singles semi-final tie with Japan’s Riko Gunji. It was their first ever meeting but Gunji, ranked 21st in the world and seven rungs below her opponent, was in total control. She took just 37-minutes to beat Li 21-13, 21-17 and book a final appearance against Denmark’s Line Christophersen.
The second seeded Christophersen led 21-15, 8-3 when her semi-final opponent Zhang Beiwen of the USA retired injured. It was the Danes first win over Beiwen in six meetings.
Christophersen had lost to Beiwen at both their clashes at the Malaysian Open and India Open earlier this year.
It was double blow for Jennie Gai, who lost in both the mixed and women’s doubles semi-finals.
Taiwanese duo Liu Kuang Heng-Hsu Yin-Hui defeated Jennie and her partner Smith 9-21, 21-23. The winners take on Japan’s Akira Koga-Natsu Saito, who beat Scotland’s Alexander Dunn-Julie MacPherson 21-16, 12-21, 23-21, in the final.
Jennie and Francesca Corbett bowed out tamely 12-21, 12-21 to Japan’s Hinata Suzuki-Nao Yamakita in the women’s doubles semi-finals.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Riki Takei (Jpn) bt Lee Zii Jia (Mas) 21-13, 18-21, 21-18; Yudai Okimoto (Jpn) bt Victor Lai (Can) 15-21, 21-16, 21-11
Men’s doubles: Christian Faust Kjaer-Rasmus Kjaer (Den) bt Julian Maio-William Villeger (Fra) 21-14, 10-21, 21-13; Hiroki Okamura-Kyohei Yamashita (Jpn) bt Takuto Goto-Tsubasa Yoshida (Jpn) 21-16, 19-21, 21-19
Women’s singles: Line Christophersen (Den) bt Zhang Beiwen (USA) 21-15, 8-3 rtd; Riko Gunji (Jpn) bt Michelle Li (Can) 21-13, 21-17
Women’s doubles: Hinata Suzuki-Nao Yamakita (Jpn) bt Francesca Corbett-Jennie Gai (USA) 21-12, 21-12; Kaho Osawa-Mai Tanabe (Jpn) bt Lauren Lam-Alisson Quynh Lee (USA) 21-12, 21-16
Mixed doubles: Liu Kuang Heng-Hsu Yin-Hui (Tpe) bt Presley Smith-Jennie Gai (USA) 21-9, 23-21; Akira Koga-Natsu Saito (Jpn) bt Alexander Dunn-Julie MacPherson (Sco) 21-16, 12-21, 23-21
