(another article by Prakash....) The Hindu Jonassen, Martin exit in contrasting style By Prakash Padukone Birmingham, Aug. 2. Denmark’s Kenneth Jonassen played the match of his life but that was not enough to take him past China’s Xia Xuanze in the quarterfinals of the World badminton championships at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham on Friday. The second-seeded Dane lost 14-17, 15-12, 10-15 in three well contested games after a battle of wits between two different styles. In the first game, Kenneth scored most of his points from short rallies taking full advantage of his height. Towards the end of the game, the Chinese changed the tactics and engaged his opponent in longer rallies that fetched him many points. Kenneth showed his fighting qualities in the second game when after being 11-12 down, he fought his way back to win 15-12. The decider proved to be a cliff-hanger with the score level at 9 before Xuanze suddenly surged ahead to 14-9. The Dane was able to score only one more point before the Chinese finished off in style. The absorbing tie, which went the full distance, kept the crowd on their toes till the last. On the distaff side, the only threat to the Chinese domination in women’s singles — Camilla Martin of Denmark was made to bite the dust by her Chinese opponent Zhang Ning, who won 11-6, 11-0.
