LI-NING CHINA OPEN 2009 - Jorgensen, Park out to stop mighty Chinese

There was more than one similarity between Chen Jin and Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Both right handed, both number 2 in their own country, in the shadow of Taufik for one, Lin Dan for the other, and both having won an Olympic Bronze medal, in Athens for Sony, in Beijing for Chen Jin.

And the fight the two shuttlers gave on Friday gave a hint of how similar their eagerness to win was. But at the end, the Indonesian bowed to his younger opponent. The crowd however was treated with all the badminton shots in the books, with long rallies, but not the kind where the shuttles just fly way up in the air. Very few high clears, but instead, a constant will to put the shuttles down, with incredible recoveries from one side and the other.

This match may have been one of the best so far and the hour and 14 minutes spent on court were worth the show. The third game however saw Chen Jin take too much of a big margin to be caught back, which gave him the final win 21/16 – 15/21 – 21/12.

“I played well in spite of my knee injury. I was not feeling very comfortable today as the rallies were long. I just tried my best” said Chen.

His opponent spent a bit more time with the local media with his usual kindness.

“Tonight, there were very long rallies as the Hall is big and the shuttles are slow. And at the end, my legs could not just go as fast and there were times were I would lose focus and make mistakes. He played very well and it was a tough game, but I just couldn’t follow his pace. He was just a better player than me today,” said Sony.

“Now since we’ll skip the Super Series Finals, I hope I will be ready for the Sea Games in Laos. Last time, we had gotten all 7 medals, in each event. I hope this year will be the same but I’ll have to prepare well as this time Malaysia is sending their best team too.”

Chen Jin will play Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen, who stunned Boonsak Ponsana, once again after he had beaten him in the World Championships. Entering the third semi-final of a Super Series event this year, the young Dane confirms his good form and he showed on court he was now able to cope with a lead and not let go because of a lack of focus.

“It was a bit like the world championships, expect that the game was much slower, which fits my game against player like this. I was ready to take on long rallies and it worked out fine for me. It’s my third Super Series semi-final and I’m really thrilled,” said Jorgensen.

“For my first outing, in Switzerland, I was a new guy in that circuit and I was just burned out when I played in the semis. Since then, I’ve learned a lot and I am now more familiar with the environment, the guys I play against. It makes a difference and I will be ready to take on Chen Jin tomorrow.”

Park Sung Hwan and Du Pengyu, playing just next court, spent one minute more than Chen Jin and Sony Dwi Kuncoro. But this time, the outcome wasn’t in favour of China, as Park managed to come back in the decider to clinch a final 23/21 – 18/21 – 21/14 victory.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 10:01 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0