Taiwan’s Chou to face Viktor Axelsen In final

LONDON: Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen and Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen will meet in the final of the All England Championships after taking contrasting routes through their last-four matches on Saturday.

World number seven Axelsen had to hit back to beat Malaysian world number 13 Lee Zii Jia 17-21, 21-13, 21-19 in Birmingham.

Chou had an easier ride as his opponent, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, retired while trailing 17-14 in the first game.

Axelsen is bidding to avenge last year’s final defeat against Kento Momota as he looks to build on his recent success at the Barcelona Masters and Indonesia Open.

“It was a really tough match. Lee made it really tough for me but I just tried to stay in there and do my best,” Axelsen said.

“I managed to keep calm through to the end of the third game, but luck was also on my side as it could have gone either way.”

In the women’s singles semifinals, Chinese world number one Chen Yu Fei beat Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-14, 23-21 and Taiwan’s second-seeded Tai Tzu-ying defeated Spain’s Carolina Marin 19-21, 21-13, 21-11.

Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti beat Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith for a place in the mixed doubles final.

The 21-15, 21-23, 21-11 victory booked a showdown with Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai for the title.

9. A bit over-exaggerated, says Ferguson after COVID-19 scare (382)

Auckland, Mar 15 (PTI) The way things played out after he reported a sore throat, leading to COVID-19 tests and isolation in his hotel room, were a “bit over-exaggerated”, feels New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson.

The 28-year-old pacer was placed in isolation immediately after Friday’s first ODI against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground following complaints of a sore throat. He underwent tests on Saturday which returned negative, clearing the pacer.

Back with his family, Ferguson thinks it was blown out of proportion. “No. Probably a bit over-exaggerated as to how I was,” he told reporters at the Auckland airport.

“I just sort of had very, very mild cold symptoms and the procedures were as they were and followed by Tommy (Simsek, physio) and the support staff. Completely understandable. So yeah, kinda had a day in the hotel room by myself.”

The Coronavirus outbreak has so far claimed nearly 6,000 lives and infected close to 1,60,000 people across the world. The pandemic has also wreaked havoc on the sporting calendar, leading to either cancellation or postponement of events in the Olympic year. Like other sports, cricket also suffered.

Ferguson returned home following the postponement of the ODI series against Australia. The first match was played in front of empty stands.

The Black Cap said, “It was strange certainly playing the game under the circumstances and with an empty crowd. For sure, that was an odd experience.

“At the same time, we were a little bit disappointed with how the game ended up. And yeah, that night I was sort of taken to get swabs and talked to the doctor there and fortunately all was good and yeah happy to be home.”