Badminton Asia Championship: China ensures women’s singles title

China ensured a women’s singles gold medal with four of its shuttlers making it to the semi-finals at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Friday.

Fifth seed He Bingjiao registered a tough 21-17, 21-18 win over top seed An Se-young of South Korea. She will next face compatriot Wang Zhiyi, who came from a game down to beat Japan’s Aya Ohori 15-21, 21-12, 21-11.

Olympic champion Chen Yufei will face Han Yu in the other women’s singles semi-final. Second seed Chen defeated Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-16, 21-19, while Han had a straight games win over Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi.

In men’s singles, top seed Shi Yuqi of China won in straight games against Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. Another Chinese player Li Shifeng defeated defending champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 21-9, 21-10.

In men’s doubles, China’s Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi lost to fourth seeds Aaron Chia/Soh Wui Yik of Malaysia 21-14, 21-15. However, despite the defeat, the Chinese pair secured a place for the Paris Olympics. Chinese Taipei’s Li Yang/Wang Chi-Lin lost to Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin 19-21, 21-19, 21-19, confirming the Chinese pair’s qualification.

In women’s doubles, Chinese pair Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan defeated Japan’s Rena Miyaura/Ayako Sakuramoto 21-10, 18-21, 21-19.

In mixed doubles, world number one Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong of China also entered Saturday’s semi-finals after defeating Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man/Tse Ying-Suet 21-11, 22-20.