MULHEIM AN DER RUHR, Germany, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese young talent Li Shifeng shocked two-time badminton world champion Kento Momota of Japan 21-11, 21-7 in the men's singles semifinals of the BWF German Open here on Saturday.
Li, who challenged Momota for the first time in his career, told Xinhua that he took the match in a very serious way and made a lot of preparation for it.
"Kento was my idol. I'm very excited to play against him and win the match. I never expected the result like this," said Li. "I believe that I have made lots of progress in the past season and become more experienced."
"I tried to win every point, especially in the long rally. This match will give me more confidence for future tournaments. Hopefully, I can keep the feeling alive," said the 23-year-old shuttler.
Women's singles second seed An Se-young of South Korea took an easy win over fourth seed He Bingjiao of China 21-12, 21-13 to book the final spot. The Chinese shuttler holds a record of four wins and two losses against An, but the latter claimed the latest two victories this year.
Third seed Chen Yufei of China lost to top-seeded Japanese player Akane Yamaguchi 21-18, 21-16. The latter holds a favorable record of 17 wins and nine losses against the Olympic champion.
"I did not push myself too much today but enjoyed the game. I tried to give what I have in the training," said Chen. "I had patience in the match but need to improve the details. No one has a 100 percent chance to beat Akane, and I need to be more confident and make more changes in attacking."
"I could feel the pressure after winning the Olympic gold in Tokyo. But now, everything starts from the very beginning. I should forget about the golds, the rankings, the titles, and fight against every opponent en route to Paris 2024," said the 25-year-old.
The fifth-seeded pair Feng, Yanzhe and Huang Dongping of China advanced to the mixed doubles final by outplaying Japanese duo Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 21-16, 21-16.
"We encouraged each other, helped each other. When one made mistakes, the other one is always capable of standing out to overcome the difficulties. That's how we won the match," said Huang. ■
