Chinese pair win tough battle to reach All England final
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E-mail Xinhua, March 10, 2013
Young Chinese shuttlers Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan beat an Indonesian pair at the men's doubles semifinals of All England Open Badminton Championships through a tough battle on Saturday.
Eighth seeded Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, who edged out Chinese Chai Biao and Zhang Nan in the first round Wednesday, failed to break through in the semifinal against Liu and Qiu.
Liu and Qiu finished the first set 21-12 with rapid attacks. But when Ahsan and Setiawan found their form and imposed real challenge, they began making more mistakes, losing the second set 13-21.
They lost three points in a row in the decider. But after the interval, the duo managed to erase the 5-point deficit before staging a comeback victory.
When their opponents struck the shuttle out of the court, they gained the match point, at which they concluded with a forceful smash.
"We were too excited in the first set, and felt tired in the second," Qiu said.
But in the third set, Qiu said they "managed to hold on despite a fluttered start."
To spectators, the pair seemed to be popping out from nowhere. Even on the official website of the All England Open, photos of Liu and Qiu were missing in players' database.
But local reports now hail them as "giant-killers". Their teammates, the pinup Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng withdrew from the event, while Hong Wei/Shen Ye and Chai Biao/Zhang Nan fell at the first hurdle.
Liu and Qiu stunned many by upsetting the world top ranked Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen from Denmark with a long match. They saved four match points, finishing with a rare 27-25 at the deciding set.
"Before coming here, we set our goal as the top eight," Qiu said. But after their teammates left, they felt a sense of responsibility. "We must forge ahead," he said.
The road to the All England Open final was bumpy. "Each match was a tough battle, but we took it easy and earned every point to stand here today," the young man added.
According to Liu Xiaolong, they were paired up at the end of 2009. "We know our advantage: being young and fast," he said.
Their next opponents will be Japanese Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa, the No. 4 seeds. It will be hard. "But we will try our best," Liu said.
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