Lin Dan beats Sho Sasaki in the Men’s Singles quarter-final of Badminton Asia Championships 2011
China’s Lin Dan defeated Sho Sasaki of Japan in the Men’s Singles quarter-final of the Badminton Asia Championships 2011, at the indoor stadium in Chengdu, China, today on April 22.
The top seed Lin, worked very hard in a three-set match of 65 minutes to get rid of Sasaki, who thrashed the ruling world champion, Chen Jin in the round-of-16.
The ruling Olympic champion, Lin played an attacking game in the opening half of the set and built a reasonable lead of 8-5. Sasaki remained struggling to return the powerful smashes of the opponent. At the end of the opening part of the first set, Lin was
ahead of the Japanese player at 11-7.
The top seed continued his aggressive run after the interval by sparing no opportunity for the opponent to dominate the rallies. The Chinese shuttler remained in the driving set throughout the set and won it with a 21-16 margin in 20 minutes.
Sasaki changed his tactics in the second set by picking the bird quite early at the net. He tried his best to keep the shuttle-c**k low from the net to avoid the powerful smashes of the Chinese. The Japanese was leading the second set with a 3-point lead
with an 11-8 score on the board. Sasaki stretched his lead after the interval by playing a positive game and managed to win the set with a good margin of 21-16, in 22 minutes.
In the final set, Lin accelerated the speed of the game that put the Japanese shuttler on the back foot. At the interval, the Chinese player was ahead at 11-8. After the one-minute break, Sasaki tried to catch the speed of the opponent but failed to control
the bird. Lin won the final set with a reasonable margin of 21-17, in 23 minutes. The ending score of this thrilling 65-minute match was, 21-16, 16-21 and 21-17.
In the semi-final battle, Lin will be up against the younger team-mate and sixth seed, Du Pengyu, who defeated the fourth seed Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in the quarter-final.
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