All England Open: Lee Chong Wei ousts Hans Kristian Vittinghus in Men’s Singles round-of-16
Malaysia’s ace shuttler Lee Chong Wei shows his strong character as he surged into Men’s Singles quarter-final after defeating Hans Kristian Vittinghus in the round-of-16 at All England Open Premier Super Series 2012 in England, on Thursday, March 8.
The World Number One Chong Wei, who is top seed in Men’s Singles draw of the championship, had to work hard to chuck out a spirited Vittinghus, who has been positioned at number 17 in the world.
Chong Wei seemed struggling in the starting set but became a little better in the second game and won the fight in straight sets with a tight margin.
On the other hand, Vittinghus showed his brilliance and matched the speed of his higher ranked rival in the whole contest but failed to dominate rallies in the ending points and lost both games in 46 minutes.
The start of the first set was interesting when the lower ranked Danish put up a superb show of top quality badminton and matched the speed of his higher ranked Malaysian opponent until the break.
After the break, Chong Wei geared up his speed to put pressure on his rival but failed as Vittinghus was everywhere in the court.
Both shuttlers entered into the concluding phase while remaining close on the score board.
The score reached at the breath-taking stage of 21-21 when Chong Wei executed fast and powerful strokes from all areas of the court and managed to bag the set with a tight margin of 23-21.
In the second set, both players displayed their aggressive skills but no one could dominate the game as they remained equal on the score board.
Until the one-minute interval, the score was close as both contestants were playing at their maximum speed.
After the break, Chong Wei injected more power in his strokes to break the rhythm of his Danish challenger and remained successful in winning the second game with a 21-18 score on the board.
The Malaysian emerged as the winner of this well-fought contest with a decent margin of 23-21 and 21-18.
In the quarter-final showdown, Chong Wei will take on Indonesia’s Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka who made an upset by beating the sixth seed Sho Sasaki of Japan in another round-of-16 encounter.
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