Lin Dan questions draw in All England

Birmingham, March 7: Five-time World champion Lin Dan felt it hard to understand the All England Open draw that put all five Chinese players in the same half.

Lin, bidding for his sixth All England title, fought off stiff challenge from Japan’s Kento Momota with a 21-18, 21-19 win. He set up a semifil clash with top seed and teammate Chen Long, who eased past sixth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-11, 21-11 on Friday.

“All the five Chinese players in men’s singles were put in the same half of the draw. It was a random draw but I thought the ‘randomness’ was unbelievable,” Lin, dubbed Super Dan, said after the match.

“So I feel it very strange that we all in the same half,” added the 31-year-old two-time Olympic champion.

Fifth seed Lin and Chen are the only Chinese players left in the men’s singles draw while Tian Houwei lost to Lin in the second round and Xue Song lost to Chen in the opening match. Wang Zhengming fell to Japanese Takuma Ueda in the first round. IANS