Jo still leads 16-9. Hana lost the first set to the Korean girl 17-21. Wang Tzu Wei takes the match 21-15 in the decider. Bye2 Jeon. Intan takes the first-set 22-20.
An impressive performance by Jonathan Christie today, beating 2 opponents in straight-sets to march to the QF. His next opponent is either Lim Chi Wing or Zhao Junpeng. Even if Jo fails to advance further, I am still proud of him. He's only 16 and he can still participate in 2 more AJC & WJC.
Roth 11 Shi 5.....really surprising scoreline. There's a possibility CHN will have 0 representative in BS tomorrow if Zhao lost to Lim later on. In GS, CHN will likely only have at most 2 and 1 is in danger of losing against Kim Hyo Min.
I think... If the Germans (and to some extent, Russians) take badminton really seriously (as in, more of competitive sport rather than leisure), they have the potential to dethrone Denmark as the king of Europe...
Battles in the QF: Pannawit Thongnuam [9/16] vs Ihsan Maulana Mustofa [5/8] Zhao Junpeng vs Jonatan Christie Hana Ramadhini [5/8] vs Busanan Ongbumrungpan [2] Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen [1] vs Fajar Alfian/Yantoni Edy Saputra Huang Kaixiang/Zheng Siwei [5/8] vs Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Arya Maulana Aldiartama [2] Rosyita Eka Putri Sari/Setyana Mapasa [5/8] vs Narissapat Lam/Puttita Supajirakul [3/4]
There is not much domination of a single country in this WJC. In QF, China has 8 representatives, INA has 7. Suhandinata Cup winner, Korea has 5 only. It seems that Korea best junior players are a bit far ahead from their second best. Taiwan, Thailand, Japan have strong presence too. Outside Asia, not much left.
This should be a good news. In 10 years time we could see badminton not dominated solely by China anymore.
Bad news is, badminton will most likely still be dominated by Asian countries. The only possible non-Asian contenders are probably Denmark, along with Germany and Russia. Sad, because spread in popularity =/= spread in strength