YONEX-SUNRISE BWF World Championships '09 - Juliane marches on, Malaysians shocked

It could have been the fact that Juliane is coached by a Chinese. Or that she has now the status of Germany’s best shuttler after Xu Huaiwen retired.

But as far as Juliane is concerned, it was simply a matter of belief.

“It was simply because I believed I could do it,” she said after her 21/18 – 21/15 victory over Wang Yihan, the shuttler everybody expected to take over from the mighty generation of Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang.

“Of course, the fact that I am coached by a Chinese helped me, especially in the preparation of this match. And the fact that I am now my country’s No 1 is also very rewarding.”

Juliane also singled out Xu Huaiwen, Germany’s former No 1 and who is now in the USA, for special mention.

“She has taught me a lot and she was the one I looked up to when I started. Being the No 1 in Germany has never happened to me and it gives me extra boost for sure.”

”I saw Tine (Rasmussen), Saina (Nehwal), Pi Hongyan and Huaiwen beating the top Chinese, so I figured why couldn’t I do it ? I had it in me as I had come close to beating some of the top stars in the past and I just knew that I wasn’t missing much. I was fit in the past as well and I did prepare physically very well, but I think the key was my mental preparation.”

Wang was gracious in defeat. “She played very strongly today – I had no answers to her attacks. I am a little disappointed of course, but it shows I still have to learn and progress. I’ll bounce back,” said Wang Yihan.

Europe will be assured of at least one medal as Juliane is down to play Pi Hongyan of France in the quarter-finals. The latter, just few minutes after her game, had little idea that she would be facing her neighbour as she was being asked by reporters what she felt about playing Wang.

Pi beat Indonesia’s Maria Kristin Yulianti 21/14 – 21/13. “I had prepared well for this match against Maria Kristin but I knew she was coming back from injury, just like me, so I didn’t know what to expect from this match. The conditions were not as windy as last time I played in this venue, which gives us more control over the shuttles. I think today I played well tactically by attacking more than what she probably expected. I gave variation to my attacking game, not taking too many risks, and I feel like she was surprised a bit.”

Tine Rasmussen took longer than expected to beat Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong 21/13 -11/21 – 21/15 but will have to be at on her toes for the match against the in-form Lu Lan.

The Chinese scored an emphatic win over Hong Kong’s Wang Chen, 21/18 – 21/14. Saina Nehwal was last on court and was in for a scare when she found herself drawn to play at one game down and 18/18, but her fighting spirit and the help of the public helped her scoop the second game while the third saw Nedelcheva of Bulgaria run out of steam.

As for the last quarter final, it will be a battle of old timers and former compatriots when Zhou Mi faces Xie Xingfang. The Hong Kong resident took two games to beat Japan’s Ai Goto, but the score didn’t reflect the long rallies the top seed had to go through to win this match. Xie, on her side, dropped a game against Salakjit Ponsana but remains on course for a third world title.

Peter Gade knew it : his competition really starts now. After another quick and efficient victory over Hong Kong’s Chan Yan Kit, the Dane now looks at the highest hurdle of the competition - playing the reigning Olympic champion Lin Dan, who didn’t take much more time to beat Dicky Palyama 21/11 – 21/11.

The Dane will bank on his good form and experience. Another fact that will help the Dane is the fact that he’s beaten the Chinese before – in his home land of China, few years ago. But Lin Dan is certainly not the same and has clinched two world titles and an Olympic Gold since then. And is seeking a third and historical crown for a hat trick never achieved before in the modern era.

Indonesians have striked three times on Thursday and will have Taufik Hidayat, Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso as contenders for Gold. The other surprise of the day saw Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen win again – this time against Boonsak Ponsana, in three games and showing that Denmark certainly has found a strong contender to succeed Gade.

The Dane will play Taufik while Simon will take on Chen Jin, easy winner over Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia. The last quarter will be between two former runner-ups, Lee Chong Wei who scooped silver in Beijing and Sony Dwi Kuncoro who lost to Lin Dan in the 2007 BWF World championships.

If Europe had good luck in the singles, they certainly will not be a threat in the doubles – apart from the mixed. Denmark’s other chance in the men’s doubles vanished along with Howard Bach’s shout of happiness when he and partner Tony Gunawan stunned the third seeds Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen.

Relying on an amazing defense , often standing – or kneeling - one in front of the other to get ready to get back the attack, the 2005 world champions played the important points better as overall it was a rather even game, even if the Danes weren’t at their best.

Malaysia have two tickets for the quarters (Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong beat Japan’s Sato and Kawamae), China has two pairs – a success for a nations whose strength usually lies in other draws – and Korea which fields the strongest team with all three pairs entering the last eight.

The women’s doubles top seeds Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty suffered a blow against giant killers Maeda and Suetsuna for Japan’s biggest success of the day – Park Joo Bong has no one else to rely on for medals.

The Japanese took 1h06 minutes to beat the top seeds from Malaysia who were clearly disappointed not to be able to match their new status of World No 1.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:21 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0