Holder Axelsen dumped out in worlds

China’s Chen Long cruises into World Championships semis

Holder Viktor Axelsen said that he made “way too many mistakes” as the Dane was dumped out of the badminton World Championships quarterfinals on Friday by China’s Chen Long.

The top-ranked players in both the men’s and women’s draws are now out, after Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei was beaten earlier in the day in Nanjing by another Chinese.

Olympic champion Chen will play Shi Yuqi in an allChinese semifinal following his high-class and emphatic 2119, 21-11 victory over Axelsen.

There was a moment of controversy and the first game was held up for two minutes as the 29-year-old Chen disputed a call that fell in favor of the strapping Dane.

But the 24-year-old world No.1, who has single-handedly broken Asia’s stranglehold on men’s badminton last year, was always playing catch-up.

“He was a lot better than me today, unfortunately,” said Axelsen, who tossed his racket spinning into the air after losing the first game, drawing a withering look from the chair umpire.

“He and I have had many good matches together and of course I respect him and wish him all the best.”

In the women’s draw, Olympic champion Carolina Marin bellowed and blustered her way into the semifinals with a devastating victory over India’s Saina Nehwal.

The 25-year-old Spaniard is chasing a third world crown and on this form could well get it. Marin will play against China’s He Bingjiao in the last four after the sixth seed stunned Tai of Chinese Taipei.

Marin destroyed Nehwal, who cut a demoralized figure by the end of a 21-6, 21-11 mauling.

The Spaniard is particularly vocal and demonstrative on court, shouting or screaming in Spanish after every winning point and before serving too.

One member of the audience took to imitating her.

Asked what she was hollering, Marin declined to reveal with a laugh.

“It is just something I keep to myself... It is something I do against any opponent,” she said. “It was not something I did from the beginning of my career.”

Nehwal, a former No.1 who looked shell-shocked afterward, said that she had no complaints about Marin’s behavior.

“The pace she is playing at is quite tremendous, she was very fast,” said Nehwal, 28, who won Commonwealth Games gold earlier this year.

The strongly fancied Tai tasted just a second defeat in 35 matches, a run which brought five titles and had made her the woman to beat in Nanjing.

But the 24-year-old was sloppy at times against He, making a series of errors at the net, going out of the tournament over three unpredictable games.

China’s He emerged after just under an hour, 21-18, 7-21, 21-13.