Second seed Carolina Marin takes on unseeded He Bingjio in Women's singles second round of the ongoing All England Championships at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on Thursday.
The reigning Olympic champion needed only 37 minutes to outclass her first-round opponent Line Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-17 yesterday to make the progress in the tournament. Notably, Marin suffered a niggle and had to pull out from the final of German Open Grand Prix Gold last week, handing the title to the other finalist, Akane Yamaguchi.
The 2015 champion, who reached the semi-final last year, has been without a title since her Rio Olympic campaign last year. A few semi-final exits and a injury-marred outing at the World Superseries Finals in Dubai did not help Marin but the Spaniard will be motivated to give it her best in Birmingham this year.
However, she will face the Chinese teenager, who has risen through the ranks to break into the top-10. Bingjiao, who started 2016 as a qualifier at All England Championships before suffering a second-round eixt finished the year with two Superseries titles - Japan Open and French Open and a Grand Prix Gold title in Germany. She also was in the star-studded Chinese team at the inaugural Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships and won her only rubber in the tournament against Taiwan's Chia Hsin Lee.
After beating her first-round opponent, Kim Hyo Min, in straight games, Bingjiao will be geared up to stun Marin. However, despite her recently-acquired status of a giant-slayer, the Chinese shuttler has to be at her best to stand a chance against Marin. A mouth-watering clash awaits Birmingham later today!
TV Schedule
Malaysia: AStro Supersport
China: LETV, GDTV
Taiwan: Sportcast
Thailand: True visions
Indonesia: Fox Sports
India: Star Sports
Australia: Fox Sports
Dubai: Dubai SPorts Channel
UK: BBC
Hong Kong: iCable, PCCW
Macau: TDM
Brunei: Astro
US: One World Sport
Denmark: TV2
