NEW DELHI: World No. 1 and defending champion An Se Young of Korea retired hurt against Singapore’s Jia Min Yeo after aggravating her knee injury in women’s singles quarterfinals at India Open super 750 badminton tournament here on Friday.
The 21-year-old Young, who had hurt her knee during the Asian Games last October, was trailing 19-21, 0-3 against Jia Min, when she decided to throw in the towel. The world No. 20 Singaporean thus recorded only her second win against Young, who had made a good start to the season with a title winning run at Malaysia Open Super 1000 last week.
Jia Min was happy to execute her plan but acknowledged that her opponent was not in her best shape.
Jia Min will next face former world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying, who beat China’s sixth seed He Bing Jiao 21-12, 21-12. World No.10 Wang Zhi Yi of China recorded a 22-20, 21-8 win against Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in another women’s singles quarter-finals.
In men’s singles, World No.18 Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong stunned Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-17, 18-21, 21-13. He will face World Championships silver medallist Japanese Kodai Naraoka, who notched a 13-21, 21-9, 21-16 win over Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia.