Beijing: Although China’s World No. 10 Shi Yuqi notched up a nail-biting straight-set win over reigning Olympic champion Chen Long in the third leg of China Badminton Super League (CBSL) between Jiangsu and defending champions Qingdao, the Qingdao team withstood a spirited rally by Jiangsu and managed to capture a 3-2 victory on Wednesday.
Qingdao’s Luo Ying/Luo Yu got off to a good start by giving Qingdao a 1-0 lead, seeing off Cheng Shu/Dong Yurong 21-13, 21-16.
Chen Long’s girlfriend and retired former women’s singles World No. 1 Wang Shixian levelled the score to 1-1 after her 21-17, 22-20 win over Hui Xi Rui of Qingdao.
In the mixed doubles match that followed, Ko Sung-hyun partnered the 2008 Olympic champion Lee Hyo-Jung to ease past Xu Chen/Sun Xiaoli of Jiangsu 21-19, 21-6.
However, the Olympic champion Chen Long who was expected to deliver the winning point for Qingdao, went down to Shi Yuqi 19-21, 12-21 and allowed Jiangsu to tie the match 2-2.
Zhang Nan/Qiu Zihan then came to the rescue by dispatching Kang Jun / Zhang Jijie of Jiangsu 21-18, 21-13 to bring the third consecutive victories for Qingdao in the 2016/2017 China Badminton Super League season.
Meanwhile, Lin Dan was absent for the tie between his team Guangzhou Heyuan and Guangdong New Century, where Lin’s team suffered their third straight loss, going down 0-5 on Wednesday.
