MULHEIM AN DER RUHR, Germany, March 11 (Xinhua) — Chinese younger expertise Li Shifeng shocked two-time badminton world champion Kento Momota of Japan 21-11, 21-7 within the males’s singles semifinals of the BWF German Open right here on Saturday.
Li, who challenged Momota for the primary time in his profession, informed Xinhua that he took the match in a really critical approach and made plenty of preparation for it.
“Kento was my idol. I’m very excited to play against him and win the match. I never expected the result like this,” mentioned Li. “I believe that I have made lots of progress in the past season and become more experienced.”
“I tried to win every point, especially in the long rally. This match will give me more confidence for future tournaments. Hopefully, I can keep the feeling alive,” mentioned the 23-year-old shuttler.
Women’s singles second seed An Se-young of South Korea took a simple win over fourth seed He Bingjiao of China 21-12, 21-13 to e book the ultimate spot. The Chinese shuttler holds a document of 4 wins and two losses in opposition to An, however the latter claimed the most recent two victories this 12 months.
Third seed Chen Yufei of China misplaced to top-seeded Japanese participant Akane Yamaguchi 21-18, 21-16. The latter holds a good document of 17 wins and 9 losses in opposition to the Olympic champion.
“I did not push myself too much today but enjoyed the game. I tried to give what I have in the training,” mentioned Chen. “I had patience in the match but need to improve the details. No one has a 100 percent chance to beat Akane, and I need to be more confident and make more changes in attacking.”
“I could feel the pressure after winning the Olympic gold in Tokyo. But now, everything starts from the very beginning. I should forget about the golds, the rankings, the titles, and fight against every opponent en route to Paris 2024,” mentioned the 25-year-old.
The fifth-seeded pair Feng, Yanzhe and Huang Dongping of China superior to the blended doubles remaining by outplaying Japanese duo Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 21-16, 21-16.
“We encouraged each other, helped each other. When one made mistakes, the other one is always capable of standing out to overcome the difficulties. That’s how we won the match,” mentioned Huang.