The World No 1 will compete in the men's singles final of the All England Open in 2025. That, perhaps, has been the only predictable outcome in a wild week of badminton at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham. By the last eight stages, in fact, Shi Yu Qi and Li Shi Feng were the only seeded players left in the men's singles draw. The top seed made it to the title clash, but was pushed all the way by his compatriot Li in the semifinal on Saturday. After having won the first game comfortably, it seemed Shi would cruise through but what followed in Games 2 and 3 was a high-quality match between two men who know each other all too well. In the end, Shi prevailed 21-9, 20-22, 21-19 in a 76-minute marathon. The other half of the draw was already full of surprises, with France's rising 20-year-old beast Alex Lanier going up against world No 22 Lee Chia Hao in a clash of unseeded players. And it was the Chinese Taipei right-hander who emerged triumphant in a topsy-turvy encounter to beat Lanier 19-21, 21-14, 21-17 in 69 minutes. Lee's run to the final is another reminder to the badminton world of Chinese Taipei's rise, especially on the men's side. The veteran Chou Tien Chen is going strong still, and in Lin Chun Yi (the explosive leftie who has been in fine form) and Lee, they have three elite men's singles players at the moment. Lee's run though could hardly have been predicted, as his best result on the World Tour so far was the final of Korea Open (Super 500 event) in 2024. For former champion Shi, it is another All England final, seven years after he won his previous title here. He had made it to the title clash in 2023 too when he was beaten by Li Shi Feng, and the semifinal win on Saturday is something of a sweet revenge. This week in Birmingham saw quite a series of results in men's singles but none bigger than the early shock for Axelsen, going down to Lin Chun Yi in the first round. The reigning Olympic champion is set to take a break from competing. "I've been dealing with severe back/nerve pain for several months now, and there are just too many days where my body doesn’t allow me to move properly at this point. However, I’m confident that, together with the great people around me, I’ll figure out a solution to move forward in the best way possible," Axelsen said on social media. In an interview with Badminton Europe he had mentioned that his focus now would be just get his body right. "There is probably a long break waiting for me now, just looking forward to not eating painkillers." Lin himself perished late on Thursday in straight sets 21-10, 21-18 to Kenta Nishimoto. Jonathan Christie, defending champ and third seed was ousted by India's Lakshya Sen. Other notable early exits on Thursday were Kunlavut Vitidsarn (seeded 5) going down to Alex Lanier, 22-20, 21-15 and second seed Anders Antonsen losing to Wang Tzu Wei 21-10, 21-13. Lee Zii Jia, seeded 7th, had lost in 3 to Ng Ka Long Angus, while Kodai Naraoka didn't survive the first-round bloodbath either, losing to compatriot Yushi Tanaka.
