Hidayat poised to create history

His opponent is a surprise survivor in a tournament with plenty of surprises — Xie Xuanze, a 21-year-old Chinese player who has come through stealthily in the half vacated by the top-seeded defending champion Peter Gade.

Xie beat his compatriot Ji Xinpeng 15-9 17-15 while the crowd was absorbed in the women’s singles battles on adjoining courts, and will enjoy having the pressure of expectations on his opponent.

But Hidayat is confident. “I think I can win. And this is probably the best chance I will have of winning a title like this,” he said, referring to Gade’s loss to Ji and the absence of world champion Sun Jun through injury.

The destination of the women’s title is known. It will go to China for the fourth successive year, though the name of the new champion will not be known until Dai Yun, in her second final, and Gong Zhichao, playing her first, have settled the issue.

Both disposed crowd favourites. Dai reversed the result of last year’s controversial world final in Copenhagen by winning 11-6 11-8 against Dane Camilla Martin, and Gong overcame comeback queen Mia Audina.

The score was 11-6 11-4 and Gong had too much light-footed mobility and consistency for the former Indonesian Uber Cup star who has survived the death of her mother, a marriage to a Dutch gospel singer which her family opposed, six months out of the game, and a life reborn on the other side of the world in the Netherlands.

But Audina’s performances have been skillful enough to ensure that she should be competing at the Olympics in Sydney in September, with every chance of playing in the top flight again for a good few years to come.

Two players will oppose each other in two finals, the perennial rivals, Ge Fei of China and Ra Kyung-Min of South Korea, who will face each other in both the women’s and mixed doubles.

Ge, regarded by many as the world’s outstanding player, looks to have a fair chance of repeating her achievement of three years ago when she became a double All-England champion with Gu Jun in the women’s and Liu Yong in the mixed.

Ra’s mixed doubles partner Kim Dong Moon, a double world champion, is again in two finals, after he and Ha Tae-Kwon beat the top-seeded title holders in the men’s doubles, Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya.

The results underlined the continuing dominance of badminton by Asia. Europeans, who won two titles last time, and had had hopes in three this time, will not be represented in any of the finals.