Lin Dan stays on title track as Marin crashes out

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Lin Dan stayed on course for a record-breaking sixth men’s singles title at the Badminton World Championships in Glasgow with a straight games quarterfinal win over Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent.

Dan, 33, hasn’t won the title since 2013, but he is guaranteed at least a bronze medal after the 21-17, 21-18 victory.

"I really enjoyed today's match," he said. "I am very happy that I managed to minimize my opponent's performance. It was good to get it done quicker today and I expect to perform fully to my 100 percent tomorrow."

Lin, also the Olympic champion in 2008 and 2012, will fight for a final berth against top seed Son Wan-ho of S. Korea, who beat India's Srikanth Kidambi 21-14, 21-18 earlier.

In the bottom half, China’s defending champion and Olympic gold medalist, Chen Long, will meet the last European hope, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen.

Over to the women's side, Carolina Marin’s reign came to a surprising end following a 19-21, 21-14, 15-21 defeat to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara.

Spain's Carolina Marin returns during her quarterfinal women's singles match against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara during the 2017 BWF World Championships of badminton at Emirates Arena in Glasgow on August 25, 2017. /AFP Photo

Marin, champion in 2014 and 2015 and Olympic gold medalist last year, had come through two easy matches but more than met her match against the dogged No.7 seed.

"I am very happy, but also very tired," said Okuhara. "Carolina is a very speedy player. At the start of the third and in tough points in the match I was telling myself 'You can do it, you can do it!' Now I want the gold medal."

Ninth seed Chen Yufei of China continued her winning run by beating eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 14-21, 21-16, 21-12.

Chen, 19, who shocked top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan on Thursday, will next take on either fellow Chinese Sun Yu or India's V. Sindhu Pusarla.

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Source(s): AFP ,Xinhua News Agency