China secures women's singles title at Badminton Asia Championships
China secured the women's singles gold with its four shuttlers sweeping semifinal spots at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Friday.
He Bingjiao, seeded fifth, claimed a tough victory over top seed An Se-young of South Korea 21-17, 21-18.
"She played very well. She was so confident today that I didn't think I could beat her," admitted An.
"I had lost to her seven times in a row before this match, so I prepared a lot for today's competition. I was very patient on the court and tried to make fewer mistakes. That's why I could win," commented He.
He will next take on compatriot Wang Zhiyi, who fought from one game down to beat Japan's Aya Ohori 15-21, 21-12, 21-11.
The other women's singles semifinal will pit Olympic champion Chen Yufei against Han Yue. Second seed Chen outlasted Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-16, 21-19, while Han stormed to a victory over Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in straight games.
Men's singles top seed Shi Yuqi of China clinched a straight-game win against Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Fellow Chinese Li Shifeng overwhelmed defending champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 21-9, 21-10.
In the men's doubles, China's Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi booked a berth for the Paris Olympics despite their 21-14, 21-15 loss to fourth seeds Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
The Chinese pair's qualification was confirmed after Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei went down to Malaysia's Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin 19-21, 21-19, 21-19.
In the women's doubles, Chinese duo Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan survived an intense battle to beat Rena Miyaura/Ayako Sakuramoto of Japan 21-10, 18-21, 21-19.
Mixed doubles world No. 1 Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong of China also advanced to Saturday's semifinals by defeating Tang Chun-man/Tse Ying-suet of Hong Kong 21-11, 22-20.