After the quarter final stage of the China Masters, nine singles players and pairs from host country China have made it to the semis, showing that the China team is determined to win as many medals as possible. The second and third best performing teams were the Korea and Japan, which saw four and three singles players and pairs through to the semis respectively. One of the Korea players to go through was VICTOR star Shon Wan Ho whose performance caught the eye; he not only made it to the last four in the men’s singles, he recorded his tenth win on the trot.

 

Son Wan Ho

An intensive tournament schedule is a test of the players’ fitness and stamina. China’s players are likely to be very fatigued because their national games have only just ended but now, with little time to recover, they are once again in a tournament facing tough opposition. Every match played by ROK men’s singles player Shon Wan Ho is also a hard one.

 

At last week’s Chinese Taipei Open Shon played every day for six days, and three of his matches went to three games. He then went to China to play in the China Masters where he had to qualify. He has now reached the semifinals, meaning he has played and won 10 games in the last 12 days. Shon will play Japan’s Sasaka Sho in the semi-final. Can he continue his winning streak? Without doubt, fitness and stamina will be the keys.

 

At the Badminton World Championships this year Jang Ye Na and Eom Hye Won surprised many by taking the silver medal in the women’s doubles after overcoming several established pairs. However, the Korea coaches have higher hopes for the pairing of Jang and Kim So Young, a pair that took the gold at this year’s World University Games. The China Masters is the second time they have reached the semi-finals in a Super Series event. In their quarter final match they beat fourth seeds Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth/ Rizki Amelia Pradipta of Indonesia, 21-17、18-21、21-1 and will play the second seeds Ma Jin/ Tang Jin Hua in the semi-final. 

 

World No.1 pair Lee Yong Dae/ Ko Sung Hyun reached the semifinal stage by beating Japan’s Hirokatsu Hashimoto/ Noriyasu Hirata, 21-10、18-21、21-6. They will face China’s Liu Xiao Long/ Qiu Zi Han who have been in red hot form this year. Can Lee/ Ko overcome such formidable opponents and take one step further towards the title?  

 

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( Edit by VICTOR Badminton )