Defending champion Shi reaches last eight at All England Open

BIRMINGHAM, Britain, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Shi Yuqi of CHINA eased past Malaysia's Liew Daren to reach the quarterfinals of the All England Open badminton championShips here on Thursday.

The 23-year-old Shi, who had upset six-time winner Lin Dan to win his first major title, took only 33 minutes to defeat the 33-year-old Liew 21-8, 21-10.

The Chinese number one will next take on Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama, who shocked Lin Dan in the first round on Wednesday.

CHINA's Huang Yuxiang was stopped by Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 22-24, 21-17, 21-16. Sugiarto will fight for the semifinal berth against Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, CHINA, who beat Praneeth B Sai earlier.

Tsuneyama, ranking 10th in the world, defeated compatriot Kenta NiShimoto 21-19, 21-13 in the other match.

Top seed Kento Momota of Japan also booked a berth in the last eight after beating Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-19, 21-11. He will next face seventh seed Srikanth Kidambi of India.

World champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark will play CHINA's Lu Guangzu and the other quarterfinal place will be decided in an all-Danish affair between Jan O Jorgensen and Rasmus Gemke.

In the women's competition, CHINA has secured three out of eight places in the quarterfinals.

Li Xuerui beat teammate Chen Xiaoxin 21-14, 21-12, third seed Chen Xufei defeated Japan's Aya Ohori 21-6, 17-21, 21-19 and sixth seed He Bingjiao fought back from one set down to beat Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 15-21, 21-15, 21-14.