Kodai Naraoka (Photo by BugWarp)
Upstarts Christo Popov of France and Japan’s Kodai Naraoka have booked their places in the semi-finals of the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou upstaging the top two seeds respectively.
Popov, who was forced to overcome a late injury and a resurgent Ander Antonsen in his opening men’s singles match win on Wednesday, was again a winner in another bruising encounter.
This time he overcame top seeded Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-11, 18-21, 21-10 in a Group A battle that lasted 74-minutes.
Kunlavut’s hopes of making the semi-finals from the group will now rest on his final group match against Denmark’s Anders Antonsen.
Antonsen defeated Indonesian Jonatan Christie 21-16, 21-14 and the match between him and Kunlavut will be a winner take all.
As for Naraoka, who had upstaged veteran Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei on the opening day, he had an easier time as he gunned down second seeded Li Shi Feng of China 21-16, 21-15 in just under an hour in Group B.
Third seeded Shi Yu Qi of China defeated Tien Chen 21-11, 19-21, 21-15 to also make the semi-final cut, having also beaten Shi Feng in his opening match.
His match against Naraoka today will decide, who tops the group.
In the women’s singles, the withdrawal of Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong due to a recurrence of her left calf injury had thrown the Group B wide open.
Pornpawee had beaten compatriot Ratchanok Intanon but following her withdrawal, all her group engagements will become null and void, and the group will become a contest between the remaining three players – Ratchanok and the Chinese duo of Wang Zhi Yi and Han Yue.
However, Ratchanok, the newly crowned SEA Games champion found the going tough in her match against Wang Zhi Yi. She lost 17-21, 19-21, making her chances of progressing much harder.
In Group A, hot favourite An Se Young of Korea and Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi are through to the semi-finals after picking up their second wins.
Se Young, chasing a record equaling 11th Tour title and second Tour Finals crown, defeated Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan 21-9, 21-6 to book her semi-final berth.
As for Yamaguchi, she was stretched by Indonesian Putri Kusuma Wardani before winning 22-24, 21-19, 21-13.
There was also a huge upset in the mixed doubles competition with the French duo of Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue came back from a game down to edge out top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand 14-21, 21-14, 21-18. It was the second defeat for the Thai pair, who were beaten by Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito yesterday, that sees them out of the running for the semi-finals.
China’s Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang outplayed denied second seeds Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia 21-14, 21-18 to put themselves back in contention for a place in the semi-finals.
RESULTS
MEN’S SINGLES:
GROUP A: Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Jonatan Christie (Ina) 21-16, 21-14; Christo Popov (Fra) bt Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-11, 18-21, 21-10
GROUP B: Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt Li Shi Feng (Chn) 21-16, 21-15; Shi Yu Qi (Chn) bt Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) 21-11, 19-21, 21-15
MEN’S DOUBLES
GROUP A: Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae (Kor) bt Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani (Ina) 22-20, 21-17; Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (Mas) bt Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi-lin (Tpe) 21-18, 21-19
GROUP B: Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) 21-14, 21-18; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri (Ina)21-11, 16-21, 21-11
WOMEN’S SINGLES
GROUP A: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Putri Kusuma Wardani (Ina) 22-24, 21-19, 21-13; An Se Young (Kor) bt Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) 21-9, 21-6
GROUP B: Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-17, 21-19;Han Yue (Chn) bt Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) walkover
WOMEN’S DOUBLES
GROUP A: Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian (Chn) bt Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) 21-19, 16-21, 21-16; Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) bt Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) 21-13, 21-18
GROUP B: Kim Hye Jeong-Kong Hee Yong (Kor) bt Hsieh Pei Shan-Hung En-tzu (Tpe) 21-7, 16-21, 21-13; Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning (Chn) Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee (Kor) 21-7, 21-10
MIXED DOUBLES
GROUP A: Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) 14-21, 21-14, 21-18;Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin (Chn) bt Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn) 21-17, 21-16
GROUP B: Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping (Chn) bt Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie (Mas) 23-25, 21-11, 22-20; Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas) bt Jafar Hidayatullah-Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu (Ina) 17-21, 21-14, 21-15
