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China's Lin eases into last eight at worlds
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-13 23:32

HYDERABAD/India:Chinese Olympic champion Lin Dan swatted aside Dicky Palyama of Netherlands to reach the quarter-finals of the world championships on Thursday.

Fifth seed Lin, 25, seeking a record hat-trick of world titles, produced an array of spectacular diving returns and crosscourt winners in a 21-11 21-11 victory to set up a last eight clash with third seed Peter Gade of Denmark.

The 32-year-old Gade, seeking his first title, was equally ruthless, brushing aside 10th seed Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong 21-11 21-12.

Malaysian world number one Lee Chong Wei's hopes for his first major title gathered steam as he defeated Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam 21-13 21-17, while Indonesian former champion Taufik Hidayat, the fourth seed, packed off Taiwanese ninth seed Hsieh Yu-hsing 21-15 21-19.

In the women's section, Hong Kong's world number one Zhou Mi, sporting a back brace, ended the good run of unseeded Japanese Ai Goto with a 21-11 21-18 success.

Chinese second seed Wang Lin overcame Korean 12th seed Hwang Youn-hye 21-10 21-13 but former champion Xie Xingfang, the fifth seeded Beijing Olympics silver medallist, was made to work hard by Thai Salakjit Ponsana before prevailing 21-16 14-21 21-9.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Thursday that an Austrian male doubles pair had pulled out due to security concerns, after England withdrew its eight-member squad on the eve of the tournament on Sunday.

The BWF also said a Malaysian coach admitted in hospital after displaying symptoms of swine flu, had tested negative for the H1N1 virus.