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NINGBO — China secured the women's singles gold with its four shuttlers sweeping semifinal spots at the Badminton Asia Championships on Friday.
He Bingjiao, seeded fifth, claimed a tough victory over top seed An Se-young of South Korea 21-17, 21-18.
"She played very well. She was so confident today that I didn't think I could beat her," admitted An.
"I had lost to her seven times in a row before this match, so I prepared a lot for today's competition. I was very patient on the court and tried to make fewer mistakes. That's why I could win," commented He.
He will next take on compatriot Wang Zhiyi, who fought from one game down to beat Japan's Aya Ohori 15-21, 21-12, 21-11.
The other women's singles semifinal will pit Olympic champion Chen Yufei against Han Yue. Second seed Chen outlasted Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-16, 21-19, while Han stormed to a victory over Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in straight games.
Men's singles top seed Shi Yuqi of China clinched a straight-game win against Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Fellow Chinese Li Shifeng overwhelmed defending champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 21-9, 21-10.
In the men's doubles, China's Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi booked a berth for the Paris Olympics despite their 21-14, 21-15 loss to fourth seeds Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
The Chinese pair's qualification was confirmed after Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei went down to Malaysia's Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin 19-21, 21-19, 21-19.
In the women's doubles, Chinese duo Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan survived an intense battle to beat Rena Miyaura/Ayako Sakuramoto of Japan 21-10, 18-21, 21-19.
Mixed doubles world No. 1 Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong of China also advanced to Saturday's semifinals by defeating Tang Chun-man/Tse Ying-suet of Hong Kong 21-11, 22-20.
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