Author: CLELY

2015 TOTAL BWF World Championships Semi-finals discussion thread

Four defending champions on course, China WS slump performance continued

The semifinal is on the way with some clashes are predicted earlier but as usual there are some surprises.

Upsets galore are happening; recent Men’s Doubles All England winners Boe/Mogensen succumbed to Liu XL/Qiu ZH yesterday. Unusually. there has been another flop by the Chinese ladies singles trio. They dominated the top tier tournaments last year but failed to reach final four in these World Champsionships. China still has most number players in the semifinals; 6 representatives with 1 final ticket assusred through Mixed Doubles discipline, followed by host Indonesia with 4 semifinal slots.

Let’s take a look who will through to last round tomorrow:

Mens Singles semifinal is almost going to the script based on the seeding position. The top two seeds had different quarterfinal stories. Chen Long experienced a sudden death drama in gruelling match against the confident and impressive Axelsen while Jorgensen outmaneuvered five times World Champion Lin Dan in quick straight-sets. The Chinese ace Chen Long will now face fast rising Momota who has had a smooth run en route to last four. Nothing is impossible for the young Japanese star to keep going in this tournament. The big match will be scheduled on evening session, Lee CW v Jorgensen. Based on their head to head (12-1), the Malaysian star has the advantage to taste a final once again but who knows with Jorgensen’s confident victory over Lin Dan yesterday.

This is the first time China’s Ladies Singles  have failed to bag any medal in World Championships arena since their first participation in 1983. Lindaweni Fanetri created a breakthrough here to bag at least bronze medal. The last time an Indonesian ladies singles won a World Championship medal was Susi Susanti at Lausanne, Switzerland 20 years ago. Title holder Carolina Marin looks unstoppable to repeat her last year huge successful unless Sung JH will offer something extraordinary to cope the energetic Spaniard. Indian darling Saina Nehwal finally reached a World Championship semifinal and she will up against local favourite and sensational Fanetri who steal the show here at her homesoil. Expect a raucous cacophony to greet both players where the home crowd will be all out in support of their home darling.

Two strong favourites Lee YD/Yoo YS v Ahsan/Setiawan will now face each other in the semi-finals. The world #1 Lee and Yoo cruised into semifinal in convincing style while the home hopefuls have struggled in less than convincing fashion en route to this stage. The other semi-final is a rematch of the 2013 All England final; Endo/Hayakawa v Liu XL/Qiu ZH will cross swords to book their first ever WC final berth. Both ties should be close contest according to their statistics.

CHN, DEN, JPN and host INA have 1 representative each in WD department. The on fire home heroines Polii/Maheswari will challenge the Olympic Champions Tian Q/Zhao YL. Pedersen/Juhl from Denmark are favoured to win over Japanese underdogs Fukuman/Yonao who knocked out second seed Luo Ying/Luo Yu at previous round. Both Pedersen and Juhl will be extra motivated to redeem their losses in the mixed doubles category.

Local heroes Ahmad/Natsir will be up in a classic rivalry between these former World Champions v reigning world champions Zhang/Zhao. The Chinese pair have a positive head to head record against the Indonesian’s but most of their encounters always tight and balanced. Second seed Xu/Ma enjoys their favourable draw and are odds on to book final spot once again and today they will oppose their junior Liu C/Bao YX who got free semi ticket due to Adcock/Adcock walkover.