ALL ENGLAND 2010 QF – Gade Ends Taufik’s All England Dream

Peter Gade ended Taufik Hidayat’s dream of All England glory today just as he did in the 1999 final in what was the match of the day on centre court on quarter-finals day.

By Mark Phelan (live in Birmingham) Photos: BadmintonPhoto.com (live)

Two friends off court but tonight it was guns at ten paces between two of the game’s greatest ambassadors as a packed house was treated to a feast of badminton that lasted a staggering 1 hour and 8 mins on centre court under the TV lights.

The Indonesian 2004 Olympic Champion settled quickest in the marathon match but it was Gade (pictured below) who had the first opportunity to strike as he secured one game point at 20-19 in the opening game. Hidayat struck back to unsettle Gade and sealed a first game win 22-20 with three consecutive points and the battle had truly commenced.

In game 2 the Indonesian seized the early initiative by storming into a 9-3 lead and at this point it was now looking like a long way back for the people’s favourite Gade. But the Dane has been around long enough to know that no match is over until the last shuttle has been struck and true to his fighting spirit he slowly dragged himself back into the game and remarkably took a 20-18 lead and once again had not one game point but two. Taufik, similar to the first game, tied it up at 20-20 but Gade was not going to make the same mistake twice and secured the 2 points needed to send the match to a decider.

The third game was an epic with the Indonesian one again storming into an early lead at 8-2 but as before Gade came back and took the lead himself at 15-13. Both players gave everything for the remainder of the game and Hidayat, obviously annoyed by a dubious line call at 21-20, succumbed and Gade sealed the victory with another 22-20 win to advance to the semi-final.

“Today was an amazing day for me and for Denmark.  Both Taufik and I played really well today and and different times of the match we both controlled the play. I was down in the second set but somehow I found the spirit to bounce back as this is the All England afterall and this has been my focus for months now. I know I‘m in good shape and I know my game is good so I can move forward with confidence to tomorrow‘s semi-final,” said Gade after his victory.

In what proved to be a bumper day at the office for team Denmark, Boe and Mogensen (pictured top) made it 4 out of 4 for the team as they beat world champions Cai and Fu in three games in another marathon 3-game match that extended well past the hour mark.

The men’s singles lost its top men’s seed today as Lin Dan faltered at the quarter-final stage against the in-form and recent German Open winner Bao Chunlai. Lin Dan was the overwhelming favourite for the men’s singles title and Peter Gade will now feel he has a definite opportunity to claim his second All England.

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