Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei returns to Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen during their All England Open Badminton Championships men's singles quarter-final match in Birmingham, central England, on March 8, 2013. AFP PHOTO/BEN STANSALL

BIRMINGHAM: World No 1 Lee Chong Wei stayed solid to march into the men's singles semi-finals of the All-England but all other Malaysians crashed out at National Indoor Arena.

Top seed Chong Wei carved out a sensational 21-17, 21-19 win against Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in a 34-minute match to show that he was hell bent to nail his third All-England title.

He will take on 23-year-old Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand and vowed to go forward.

The match against Tien Minh on Friday however, could have ended earlier if not for Chong Wei's string of simple mistakes after he had taken a commanding 20-15 lead in the second game. He was not too pleased with it.

"I wanted badly to win the match after all other Malaysians had lost. In my hastiness, though, I gave away several easy points towards the end. I hope to be more focused," said Chong Wei.

On his next opponent, Chong Wei said: "Tanongsak is a qualifier but he has come this far.

“He should not be under-estimated at all. He is an attacking player and I will have to be ready for a strong assault from him," he said.

Tanongsak was thrilled with the opportunity to play against Chong Wei in his first semi-final appearance in the All-England.

"I want to be the next Boonsak Ponsana in my country and I hope to give Chong Wei a good fight. I have never beaten him but I will try this time," said the third year business management student from the National University in Bangkok.

The other men's singles semi-final match-up will be between Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark and second seed Chen Long of China.

Jorgensen prevented an all Chinese affair when he dumped former world champion Chen Jin 21-7, 21-14.

While Chong Wei continued to keep the flag flying high for the country, the others - Tan Wee Kiong-Hoon Thien How, Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and Woon Khe Wei-Vivian Hoo failed to follow through.

Wee Kiong-Thien How put up a lousy performance enroute to their 12-21, 16-21 drubbing by Malaysian Open champions Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.

Said Wee Kiong: "They read out game very well and I just could not play my game. It is disappointing to lose like this."

Zakry-Fairuzizuan lost 12-12, 10-21 to Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan of China and it was largely to Zakry's swollen knee.

"We did not want to push it because of my knee. Fairuzizuan and I decided to take it easy and focus on next week's Swiss Open," said Zakry.

The fairytale run for Khe Wei-Vivian in the All-England ended when they bowed out tamely 16-21, 13-21 to Japan's Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna in the quarter-finals.

Despite the defeat, the girls can walk tall for reaching the last eight. It was Khe Wei's first tournament this year after recovering from an ankle injury.

There were several upsets in the women's singles and mixed doubles events. In the singles, Saina Nehwal of India snuffed off the fiery challenge from the last Chinese standing when she defeated Wang Zhixian 23-21, 19-21, 21-16 to reach the semi-finals.

Said Saina: "It is unusual to have no women singles Chinese player in the semi-finals of the All-England. It surely opens up the path for others to have a shot at the title.

Saina will take on Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon, who made it to her first All-England semi-final with a stunning 13-21, 21-12, 21-8 win over fourth seed Juliane Schenk of Germany.

The other semi-final will be between two-time All-England champion Tine Baun of Denmark and Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea.

The biggest upset of the day was when Indonesia's Mohd Rijal-Debby Susanto of Indonesia dumped top seeds Xu Chen-Ma Jin of China with a 16 -21, 21-13, 21-18 win.

RESULTS

QUARTER-FINALS Men's singles: Chen Long (Chn) bt P. Kashyap (Ind) 21-16, 21-10; Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) bt Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) 21-17, 21-11; Lee Chong Wei (Mas) bt Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) 21-17, 21-19; Jan O Jorgensen (Den) bt Chen Jin (Chn) 21-7, 21-14.

Men's doubles: Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) bt Kim Ki-jung-Kim Sa-rang (Kor) 16-21, 21-12, 21-19; Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan (Chn) bt Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari (Mas) 21-12,21-10; Maneepong Jongjit-Nipitphon Puangpuapech (Tha) bt Chen Hung-ling-Lu Chai-bin (Tpe) 21-11, 21-13; Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt Tan Wee Kiong-Hoon Thien How (Mas) 21-12, 21-16.

Women's singles: Saina Nehwal (Ind) bt Wang Shixian (Chn) 23-21, 19-21, 21-16; Tine Baun (Den) bt Lindaweni Fanetri (Ina) 21-7, 21-13; Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Juliane Schenk (Ger) 13-21, 21-12, 21-8; Sung Ji-hyun (Kor) bt Eriko Hirose (Jpn) 21-13, 21-12.

Women's doubles: Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Jung Kyung-eun-Kim Ha-na (Kor) 21-18, 21-14; Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna (Jpn) bt Vivian Hoo- Woon Khe Wei (Mas) 21-16, 21-13; Ma Jin-Tang Jinhua (Chn) bt Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth-Rizki Amelia Pradipta (Ina) 21-13, 21-13;Cheng Shu- Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt Duanganong Arronlesorn-V. Kunchala (Tha) 21-19, 21 -19. Mixed doubles: Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) bt Fran Kurniawan-Shendy Puspa Irawati (Ina) 21-15, 20-22, 21-16; Tantowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt Robert Mateusiak-Nadiezda Zieba (Pol) 12-21, 21-14, 21-18; Mohd Rijal-Debby Susanto (Ina) bt Xu Chen-Ma Jin (Chn) 16-21, 21-13, 21-18; Markis Kido-Pia Zebadiah Bernadet (Ina) bt Sudket Prapakamol-T. Saralee (Tha) 18-21, 22-20, 22-20.

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