Badminton star Chen pulls out with Olympic slot safe

Chinese star Chen Jin pulled out of the India Open badminton tournament with a wrist injury after his Olympic berth was ensured on Friday. Chen, who Thursday replaced Denmark's Peter Gade as the fourth-ranked player in the world, was scheduled to meet India's Parupalli Kashyap in the men's singles quarter-finals late in the evening. The pull-out also helped Kashyap make it to the London Olympics. "I was ready for the match. It's obviously a great feeling to be in the Olympics," said Kashyap. Chen was assured of an Olympic place after second-seeded Gade lost 24-22, 21-18 to unseeded South Korean Wan Ho Shon in the quarter-finals early in the day. He is now set to join compatriots Lin Dan and Chen Long, ranked number two and three respectively in the world, at the Olympics. Chen will retain his number-four spot when the final world ranking list to determine the Olympic qualifiers is released on May 3. A country can have three players in each singles event if they are ranked among the top four. Kashyap now plays Wan Ho Shon, while top-seeded Malaysian Lee Chong Wei meets Chinese Taipei's Jen Hao Hsu in the other semi-final. In the women's tournament sixth-seeded German Juliane Schenk pulled off the biggest upset of the day when she rallied to down top-seeded Chinese Wang Shixian 6-21, 21-10, 21-16 to move into the semi-finals. The German will take on Chinese Chen Xiao Jia after unseeded Korean Youn Joo Bae, who upset third-seeded Indian Saina Nehwal in the previous round, failed to maintain her form and lost to Chen 21-17, 21-13. The other women's singles semi-final will be an all-China affair, with second-seeded Li Xuerui taking on fourth-seeded Jiang Yanjiao. Li recorded a 21-15, 21-11 win over Singapore's Juan Gu while Jiang overcame an opening-game loss to down Indian P. V. Sindhu 18-21, 21-12, 21-18.