Giant-killer Cordon marches on at worlds

LONDON, (Reuters) – Guatemalan giant-killer Kevin  Cordon marched into the third round of the badminton world  championships yesterday with an impressive 21-19 21-17  victory over Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen.

Hard on the heels of his stunning first round success over  fifth-seed Chen Long of China, Cordon led for most of the match  at London’s Wembley Arena, helped by some powerful cross-court  smashing to confound the Swede.

Cordon, world-ranked 36, gets his first name after Kevin  Keegan who was a favourite soccer player of Cordon’s father.  He said: “It’s great to be still alive in the world  championships. I was still tired yesterday after the match with  Chen Long but I kept my focus and tried to play my best again.”

Since March, Cordon has been playing with the Spanish  national team in Madrid. He explained: “It’s easier to practise  in Europe, it’s easier to travel and there are more tournaments  every week.” On an adjoining court, top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia  breezed past Finland’s Ville Lang 21-10 21-11 and will now meet  South Korean ninth seed Park Sung-hwan.

Chong Wei told reporters: “I am quite confident because I  played him in the Sudirman Cup recently and beat him.”

Defending champion Chen Jin of China and former world  titleholders Lin Dan and Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat were in  action later on Wednesday.

In the women’s singles, Commonwealth Games champion Saina  Nehwal of India put an end to the hopes of Ireland’s Chloe  Magee, winning their third round match 21-10 21-7.