Gade, Hidayat escape early exit at badminton worlds
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The world number two Peter Gade from Denmark and Indonesia's fifth seed Taufik Hidayat both avoided second-round exit at the Badminton World Championships after beating their rivals in three sets on Wednesday.
Pi Hongyan representing France stole all the spotlights on the third competition day as the former Chinese player knocked out her first opponent Elena Prus of Ukraine in style.
Gade, 33, has predicted that his match with South Korean Shon Wan Ho in the second round would be a tough one as he won their previous two encounters both in three sets.
On Wednesday, Gade edged Shon 25-23 in the opening set but lost the following one quickly 21-7. In the deciding set, the experienced Dane was never dropped behind, sealing the victory 21-18.
Gade is going to scramble for a quarterfinal berth with Germany's 15th seed Marc Zwiebler.
Earlier, former world and Olympic champion Hidayat met strong challenges from the Beijing Olympic Games quarterfinalist Hsieh Yu-hsing from Chinese Taipei, losing the first game 21-19.
The 29-year-old Hidayat managed to lead the following game in 19-15, but was caught up to a tie of 19-19. When he grabbed two game points 20-19, He earned the key point with a seemingly outside ball.
Hsieh protested to the umpire in vain then faded in the following set 21-9.
Hidayat admitted that he was fortunate to win the second set so as the whole match.
"I'm lucky. I think it's outside, but we have the umpire, so I can't do anything," said Hidayat.
Top seed Li Chong Wei from Malaysia overcame his compatriot Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in straight sets and is likely to meet Hidayat in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, teammates Bao Chunlai and Lin Dan from the powerhouse China have to fight for a quarterfinal place after winning their second-round matches respectively.
Bao defeated Canadian David Snider 21-13, 21-13 after thee-time world champion Lin sent off Henri Hurskainen from Sweden 21-13, 21-15.
Olympic champion Lin won 18 out of 23 matches with Bao in international competitions since 2001, but lost to Bao in their last meet at the All England Championships this March.
Whatsoever, Pi was the most shining star on Wednesday as the fifth seed in the women's singles heated the stadium to boiling the moment she showed up on court.
Pi gave few chances to her rival, wrapping the match up 21-8, 21-8. She is going to face South Korean Kim Moon Hi in the third round.
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