Top Seed Xia Crashes out at All England Championships

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 08, 2002

Top Seed Xia Crashes out at All England Championships

Top seed and former champion Xia Xuanze wasted a two-game advantage to crash out at the third round of the All England Badminton Championships Thursday in Birmingham.

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Top seed ousted

Top seed and former champion Xia Xuanze wasted a two-game advantage to crash out at the third round of the All England Badminton Championships Thursday in Birmingham.

Xia, 23, who won the champion here in 2000, dominated 10th seed Agus Hariyanto of Hong Kong, China after the match and pulled ahead 7-5, 7-2 but the former Indonesian player Hariyanto made a strong comeback, fighting off four match points in the fourth game to win 7-2, 8-6, 8-7 in the final three games.

"Xia should not have belittled his opponent," said Xia's coach Tang Xianhu. "He even slowed his pace when leading 2-0. We can not believe he could lose to a player like Hariyanto."

This is the second time for Xia to be stopped in the third round. He went down to Muhammad Roslin Hashim of Malaysia last year.

Xia's fellow Chinese Wu Yunyong also made an third-round exit after losing to Budi Santoso of Indonesia 7-2, 6-8, 7-1, 7-5.

China remains powerful

But China remains the most powerful nation in the event, reserving five out of eight places in the quarterfinals.

Second seed Chen Hong, last year's beaten finalist, defeated Bjoem Joppien of Germany 7-3, 6-8, 7-4, 7-3, fourth seed Lin Dan breezed past Rony Agustinus of Indonesia 7-0, 7-2, 7-2, qualifier Luo Yigang, who stunned fifth seed Lee Hyun-il of South Korea on Wednesday, upset Roslin Hashim 6-8, 7-4, 7-0, 7-3, 12th seed Bao Chunlai ousted Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 7-5, 8-7, 7-3, and 11th seed Chen Yu swept past Richard Vaughan of Wales 7-2, 7-5, 7-2.

The other quarterfinal berth went to Shon Seung-mo of South Korea, who stopped sixth seed Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia 7-2, 3- 7, 7-2, 7-1.

The women's singles event was also China's domain with five of their players entering the quarterfinals.

Top seed Zhou Mi proved ruthless as she brushed aside Ling Wan Ting of Hong Kong, China 7-5, 7-1, 7-0, second seed Zhang Ning routed local player Julia Mann 7-3, 7-1, 7-2, third seed Gong Ruina trounced Japan's Kanako Yonekura 7-2, 7-3, 7-3, seventh seed Dai Yun overpowered Kelly Morgan of Wales 7-1, 7-1, 7-3, Xie Xingfang made short work of Dane Tine Rasmussen 7-0, 7-0, 7-4.

Xu Huaiwen became the only Chinese to fall in the third round, defeated by former world champion and fifth seed Camilla Martin of Denmark 7-2, 8-7, 7-4.

In the other matches, Kim Kyeung Ran of South Korea beat Germany's Nicole Grether 7-4, 7-2, 7-2, fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong, China defeated Lee Kyung-won of South Korea.

China Tests Youngsters in All-England Open for World Championships

With four top players retired after the Olympic Games, China has to field a team mixed experience with youngsters in the All-England badminton championships, the first major tournament they have competed since returning from Sydney Olympics with a record four gold medals.

Ji Xinpeng and Gong Zhichao, Olympic gold medalists in the men's and women's singles respectively, will lead 30 Chinese players to battle for five trophies in the 102-year All-England championships.

China won three champions in the event last year with Gong taking the women's singles, Ge/Gu the women's doubles and Xia Xuanze, the Olympic bronze winner, winning the men's singles. (In Detail)

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