All the news from the semi final day at the All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham.
This is for me they most important Super Series Event. There is just something special about the roots and history of badminton, and Badminton England do a very good job of organising the event.

Peter Gade from Denmark needed an  unlikely upset against Lee Chong Wei to reach the final but it was another unlikely man in Tago from Japan who reached the All England Final. However, it was a successful day for Danish badminton.

Mens Singles:

The dream that was Peter Gade’s 2nd All England title ended today as top seed Lee Chong Wei continued his excellent run in the Super Series with his third final of the year and ending Peter Gade’s fabulous run at the semi final stage, the Malaysian winning 21-17, 21-14 in 47 minutes.



In the other semi final, world #20 Kenichi Tago played 6th seeded Bao Chunlai, who defeated Lin Dan in the quarterfinals. The first game was dominated by the Chinese 6th seed, winning 21-18, however the second game was a much tighter affair but Bao Chunlai had a chance at 20-19 to book his place in the final, only for the unseeded Japanese player to win the next three points to take it into a third game. Tago was clearly motivated by his second game victory and dominated the deciding game and won the match on his third match point, winning the 3rd game 21-18 to book his place in the All England Final.



Richard Vaughan commented "Its a great result by Tago, I played him twice in my last before retiring, winning once and losing once He was a great talent but always a little small. Hes really improved his the phycial part of his game allowing his talent to come through. In the other semi final its a pity Peter could not win, however its great he reached another semi final, and Lee Chong Wei is the title favourite."

Women’s Singles:

Tine Rasmussen done what Peter Gade could not and reached the final, her third final in succession with a 21-19, 21-17 victory over the 7th seeded Saina Nehwal in her semi final match, The 2010 final will be a rematch of the 2009 final, with top seed Wang Yihan defeating her Chinese compatriot Wang Xin in the second semi final, the 2009 winner coming through 21-17, 26-24



Mens Doubles:

The Danish success continued in the men’s doubles, with an All-Danish final. 4th seeded Boe and Mogensen booked their place first with a win over Guo and Xu, the 7th seeds from China, winning the match 21-16, 21-16. Unseeded Paaske and Rasmussen continued their love affair with the NIA, the location of their world championship victory in 2003. They defeated the 3rd seeds Kido and Setiawan in three superb games to book their place in tomorrow’s final, winning 14-21, 21-13, 23-21.




Women’s Doubles:

An all-Chinese final was assured in the women’s doubles, but it is an unlikely final with the 3rd seeded Zhao and Cheng defeating last weeks German Open winners and 2nd seeded Ma and Wang in the semi final, winning 21-17, 21-18 in 49 minutes. The other semi final pitted the top seeds Du and Yu against Pan and Tian, with the first game being won narrowly by the top seeds 24-22, with Pan and Tian having the opportunity to win the game at 21-20 after saving 4 games points previously. The second game was too much for the unseeded pair and the top seeds progressed 24-22, 21-10.

Mixed Doubles:

There was unseeded success for a Chinese pair in the mixed doubles, with Zhao Yunlei reaching her second All England badminton Final after winning her women’s doubles semi final against Ma and Wang, she partnered up with Zhang Nan to defeated the 4th seeds and fellow countrymen He Hanbin and Yu Yang to reach the final, winning 21-14, 23-21. They will meet the 2nd seeded Widianto and Natsir in the final, as they defeated 3rd seeds Lee and Lee in the other semi final 21-16, 18-21, 21-8 to book their place in the final.