Hong keeps All England
title hopes alive

Second seed Chen Hong stayed firmly on track for his first All England badminton title on Friday, disposing of Chinese compatriot Luo Yigang 6-8, 7-3, 7-4, 7-5 in their quarter-final clash.

Chen, runner-up last year to India's Pulella Gopichand, is a firm favourite after the departure earlier in the week of a variety of big names, including Gopichand.

Luo, a qualifier, battled well and even saved three match-points but Chen generally carried the better armoury.

In an event dominated by the Chinese, Chen, 22, now meets 12th seed Bao Chuniai in Saturday's semifinals. Bao booked his place with a 7-3, 7-4, 6-8, 7-1 success over compatriot Chen Yu.

The other semifinal features fourth seed Lin Dan and the only non-Chinese survivor - unseeded Indonesian Budi Santoso.

Santoso had an easier than expected passage, sweeping aside Hong Kong's Agus Hariyanto 7-3, 7-2, 7-1.

On Thursday, Hariyanto had produced one of the shocks of the tournament to knock out top seed and Olympic bronze medallist Xia Xuanze of China.

Earlier on Friday, Denmark's Camilla Martin kept the European flag flying with a gutsy 7-5, 1-7, 7-4, 7-2 quarter-final victory over Chinese number two seed Zhang Ning.

Martin, World champion in 1999 but seeded only five here, had too much guile for her opponent who struggled to find any fluency.

The Dane is the only European left in both the men's and women's singles and once again finds herself carrying the banner against the might of Asia.

Martin, 27, said: "I have to keep going. I've done it before and it's difficult to be alone against the Chinese army. But they have respect for me and I have respect for them."

Her opponent in the semifinals is China's Dai Yun, the woman she beat in the world championship final three years ago. Martin said: "She's the player I have most respect for."