Only doubles teams survive for China

(BEIJING, June 13) -- Even though the Chinese didn't send their entire elite troop to the Aviva Open Singapore 2008, it was still a little surprising to see all their Singles players knocked out before the quarterfinals, leaving only Doubles players to fight following the third day of the tournament on June 12, when 39 matches were played to decide all quarterfinalists.

The 28-year-old Men's Singles world No. 13, Chen Yu, lost to world No. 33 Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in a three-game thriller. The two players traded easy wins in the first two games. In game three they tied at 10-10 before Nguyen took four straight points and managed to hold off Chen's counterattack, winning the game by six points.

Previously, China lost their chance in Women's Singles after 19-year-old Wang Lin was defeated by world No. 9 Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia. Wang, who coaches are hoping will be a big contributor to the Chinese team's success, met Wong in this year's Asian Championship, where Wang pulled 2-0 win. But in Thursday's match she was outplayed by Wong in all areas, losing two points in smash and four points at the net, in addition to making several errors.

Despite a miserable end in the Singles competition, China advanced to the next round in Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

Xie Zhongbo and Guo Zhendong had a close encounter with the Indonesian Men's Doubles team of Muhammad Ahsan and Bona Septano, winning two games 21-18 and 26-24. Women's Doubles players Du Jing and Yu Yang easily got past Chou Chia Chi and Lee Tai An of Chinese Taipei 21-15 and 21-13. The world No. 2 Mixed Doubles team of Zheng Bo and Gao Ling struggled in an early game against Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen but were able to seal the match with a 21-14 win in game three. Zheng and Gao, who paired in 2006, still need to work on coordination if they want to defend China's glory in Mixed Doubles this August.