CR Land BWF World Superseries Finals – Day 1 – afternoon: Lee Chong Wei ‘Du-ly’ Upset

CR Land BWF World Superseries Finals – Day 1 – afternoon: Lee Chong Wei ‘Du-ly’ Upset

Top seed Lee Chong Wei’s campaign at the CR Land BWF World Superseries Finals started disastrously when he lost to No. 9 Du Pengyu in a close Group A match this afternoon.

China’s Du (featured image) accomplished what he narrowly failed to do a few months ago in the Denmark Open final. He showed tremendous resolve in the final set – despite trailing by margins of 6-12 and 11-16, Du slowly narrowed the gap and finally caught up at 18. Malaysia’s Lee (left) saved one match point at 19-20 but could not prevent his challenger from converting the second. Du wrapped the match 12-21 21-16 22-20.

Women’s Singles top seed, Li Xuerui of China, dodged Lee’s fate, holding off spirited countrywoman, Wang Shixian, 21-19 15-21 21-18. Though losing the second game, Li dominated the final one from the halfway stage and, though Wang levelled at 16, the Olympic champion powered home comfortably at Shenzhen Bay Sports Center.

There were two walkovers from Korea’s doubles teams – Yoo Yeon Seong/Jang Ye Na (against China’s Xu Chen/Ma Jin in Mixed Doubles) and Eom Hye Won/Jang Ye Na (against Japan’s Matsutomo Misaki/Ayaka Takahashi in Women’s Doubles). These were due to an ankle injury sustained by Jang who was scheduled to compete in both events.

AFTERNOON HIGHLIGHTS

• Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (right) had an unexpected early end to their opening fixture. Kim Ki Jung/Kim Sa Rang of Korea retired with the Danes leading 21-17 17-9 in their Group A Men’s Doubles encounter.

• Mixed Doubles pair Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthongkam beat All England champions Tontowi Ahmad/Lilyana Natsir (Indonesia) for the second straight time. The Thai twosome earned a 19-21 21-14 21-14 victory in Group A.

• Sung Ji Hyun previously boasted a 4-0 record against Japan’s Eriko Hirose and the Korean continued her unbeaten streak today, winning 21-12 21-15 in their Women’s Singles Group A match.

See day’s full results here.

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