QINGDAO, China, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Lin Dan quit his semifinal clash with teammate Chen Jin at the Asian Badminton Championships on Saturday.
According to the organizers, Lin's waist injury recurred during morning's session of training. Xia Xuanze, men's singles coach of the Chinese national team, told reporters that the decision was made on Saturday morning when Lin felt uncomfortable in his waist.
Lin's withdrawal sent Chen into Sunday's final against Chinese Du Pengyu, the 17-21, 21-16, 21-12 winner over Chen Long in the semifinals.
Chen is currently ranked fifth in the world, but based on points collected during the Olympic period he is at No. 4, ahead of Danish veteran Peter Gade. Chen needs to secure the fourth place until the end of April to ensure an Olympic ticket.
World No. 3 Chen was stunned by teammate Du Pengyu. Chen had a better start, but he suddenly lost the rhythm as Du levelled the aggregate score. Seemingly encouraged, the fifth seed Du continued his dominance in the third set to the end.
China's dominance was just as complete in the women's singles with four Chinese shuttlers gathered in the semifinals.
The in-form Li Xuerui stopped dark horse Chen Xiaojia 21-15, 22-20, while world No. 1 Wang Yihan outclassed Wang Shixian 21-19, 21-12.
In the women's and mixed doubles, China has also secured the gold medals after turning Sunday's finals into all-Chinese games.
However, China's hope for a clean sweep was ruined as two Chinese pairs lost to Japanese and South Korean opponents in the men's doubles.
Top seed Chai Biao/Guo Zhendong were defeated by South Korean Kim Ki Jung/Kim Sa Rang 21-17, 21-9, while seventh seed Hong Wei/Shen Ye was stopped by Japanese Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa 21-12, 21-17.