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E-mail Xinhua, September 20, 2024
Home favorite and top-seeded Shi Yuqi faced a shocking second-round exit at the badminton China Open on Thursday, while Olympic silver medalists Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang also failed to advance.
It only took unseeded Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 28 minutes to defeat Shi, securing his spot in the men's singles quarterfinals with a decisive 21-11, 21-8 victory at the Changzhou Olympic Center Stadium.
Shi Yuqi of China hits a return during the men's singles round of 16 match against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia at the China Open 2024 badminton tournament in Changzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)
Shi, who is currently ranked world No. 1, acknowledged that he was not in top form physically or mentally. During the match, he requested a medical timeout to receive treatment on his left ankle and lower back. "I did my best. It was actually better than I expected," Shi added.
In men's doubles, China's Liang/Wang also exited the tournament earlier than anticipated. After a successful start against the Popov duo in the first round, Liang/Wang faced Indonesia's Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Daniel Marthin in the second round.
The Chinese pair lost narrowly in the first set 21-19, managed a comeback in the second 21-18, but eventually succumbed in the final set 21-17 after saving two match points.
"We let our chances slip away today. We need more time to reach our peak performance," Liang said.
This defeat places Liang/Wang further from qualifying for the BWF World Tour Finals in mid-December in Hangzhou. They currently rank 17th in the Race to Finals Rankings with 43,490 points, trailing over 10,000 points behind the top eight qualifying spots.
The top eight from each category will secure berths for the Finals. Another Chinese pair, He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu, lead the men's doubles rankings with 75,850 points.
After stunning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men's singles first round on Wednesday, China's Lei Lanxi continued his momentum to beat Kenta Mishimoto of Japan to advance into the final eight.
In Thursday's other matches, top-seeded women's doubles pair Baek Ha-na/Lee So-hee of South Korea, men's singles seeds Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, and Denmark's Anders Antonsen all advanced to the next round.
