Momota stutters into Asian badminton semis

SHANGHAI: Japan’s world No 1 Kento Momota suffered a scare on the way to an ultimately comprehensive quarter-final victory at the Badminton Asia Championships on Friday.

The reigning champion and top seed lost the first game to home player Lu Guangzu before storming back to march into the semi-finals in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The 24-year-old Momota, the hot favourite and world champion, prevailed 16-21, 21-11, 21-14 in 69 minutes against the unseeded Lu.

There was more disappointment for the local fans when Olympic champion Chen Long pulled out of his clash with Vietnamese veteran Nguyen Tien Minh with a high fever.

Momota will play the 36-year-old Nguyen, ranked a lowly 75th in the world, in the semi-finals on Saturday.

The other last-four match will be between Shi Yuqi, the second seed from China, and Taiwan’s third-seeded Chou Tien-chen.

Chinese players dominated the women’s draw.

Top seed Chen Yufei defeated Japan’s Aya Ohori 21-17, 21-19 and will play third-seeded Akane Yamaguchi, also from Japan, in the last four.

The other semi-final is between two more Chinese players, He Bingjiao, seeded fifth, and unseeded Cai Yanyan.

It was a poor day for India’s shuttlers.

Sameer Verma was soundly beaten 21-10, 21-12 by Shi in the men’s draw while Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu were defeated by Yamaguchi and Cai respectively in the women’s competition.