Chinese Olympic champion Lin Dan swatted aside Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands to reach the quarterfinals of the badminton world championships 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 brushed aside 10th seed Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-12 to set up a quarters clash agains Lin. 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, beat Taiwanese ninth seed Hsieh Yu Hsing 21-15, 21-19. Chinese second seed Chen Jin was close to his best as he hammered Malaysian 12th seed Wong Choong Hann 21-12, 21-7. 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 South Korean 12th seed Hwang Hye-youn 21-10, 23-21 and will face India's Saina Nehwal, after the 19-year-old sixth seed rallied past Bulgarian 10th seed Petya Nedelcheva 18-21, 21-18, 21-10. Saina became the first Indian woman to reach the worlds quarterfinals. Former champion Xie Xingfang, the fifth seeded Beijing Olympic silver medalist, was made to work hard by Thai Salakjit Ponsana before prevailing 21-16, 14-21, 21-9. Denmark's third seed Tine Rasmussen, just back after a heel injury which kept her out for four months, beat 13th seed Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong 21-13, 11-21, 21-15. 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 to hospital after displaying symptoms of swine flu, had tested negative for the H1N1 virus.
