Unseeded Singapore pair advance after two upsets at the All-England Badminton Championships

Singapore's unseeded, unfancied and unheralded women doubles pair of Jiang Yanmei and Li Yujia are doing better than expected at the All-England Badminton Championships 2005 in Birmingham.

Yesterday, they posted two victories to advance to the quarter-finals. After defeating top Indonesian duo Jo Novita and Lita Nurlita 15-7, 9-15, 15-10 yesterday, they stunned sixth-seeded Danes Rikke Olsen and Mette Schjoldager 15-4, 15-7 five hours later.

Said Singapore Badminton Association technical director Zheng Qingjin: 'The Danes probably thought Jiang and Li were going to be easy meat after their long opening match.'

How wrong they were, as the Republic's duo set a blistering pace in the first game and stunned them 15-4 in less than 10 minutes. Before the Danes could recover, the Singapore pair raced past them to clinch the second game 15-7, winning the tie in just 26 minutes.

Said Zheng: 'It will be an uphill task against the Thais, but we are quietly confident.'

Should they beat the Thais, Our Girls are likely to meet second seeds Wei Yili and Zhao Ting- ting of China.


Summarized from The Straits Times Interactive, March 12, 2005