WORLD 2011 QF – Taiwan fashion girl disrupts Chinese plan

Cheng Shao Chieh deprived China of an internecine final in the women’s singles event as she stunned top seed Wang Shixian in straight games on Friday evening. She will meet the winner of Schenk and Baun for the first semi-final.

Badzine Staff.   Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Cheng Shao Chieh (photo) is quite a unique woman in the badminton world. First of all, because she has tattoos all over her body – amongst which one on her elbow in the shape of her Chinese name, but which she said she’d have to double check to say what it really means. Then, of course, she’s one of the few Asian women players with short, blond hair. And mostly because to her, badminton is a game. It’s fun. And this difference was obvious on court this Friday against Wang Shixian, who was clearly far more stressed out, admitting later she didn’t want to go on court to play against a player she fears.

The Taiwan shuttler, on the contrary, was all smiles from start to finish, enjoying every – long – rally and playing with a wide variety of shots. The Chinese was not far from her throughout the match, but Shao’s fighting spirit made the difference, along with the lack of pressure on her shoulders. In 49 minutes, the short, smiley veteran booked her ticket to the semi-finals of the 2011 Yonex BWF World Championships 21-16, 21-17, some 6 years after her first bronze medal in Anaheim.

“I was young then. Now, I feel like I’m much older and way more mature in my game. I play the game to enjoy myself mainly. That’s the key. I can feel that the others have pressure when they play against me. But I just focus on my own game. Now, I haven’t looked beyond this match, and I haven’t thought about how I’ll play my next opponent yet,” said the Taiwan shuttler, who claims she spends almost as much time on the surf back home as on a badminton court. “It gives me extra training. Surfing is fun too!”

Cheng is to play the winner of the “Babolat girls”, Juliane Schenk and Tine Baun, who are seeing la vie en rose – and wearing the same pink tops – until now. The Dane is the favourite as she’s beaten the German the last 5 times they’ve played. But Schenk is in great form and could turn the tables.  She probably has, in the back of her mind, her defeat after wasting a match point in the quarter-final of the 2009 BWF World Championships to Pi Hongyan.

Earlier, Wang Xin (photo) had crushed India’s hopes of seeing 21-year-old jewel Saina Nehwal get a world crown as the Chinese left-hander was just too fast for the Indian and got away with a 21-15, 21-10 success. She is to meet the winner of Pi Hongyan and Wang Yihan, who were scheduled to play in the evening session on Friday.

All results HERE

Live Streaming HERE (geo-blocked for some countries)