Europeans were forced out on Thursday in the badminton tournament of the Beijing Olympic Games, while Asians including world No. 1 men's singles player Lin Dan underlined their dominance on the court.

During Thursday's quarterfinal matches, the European hopes for men's singles and mixed doubles, namely Peter Gade and the duo of Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Thomas Laybourn from Denmark and the British duo of Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson from Britain, were all eliminated.

Currently, the Danish men's pair of Lars Paaske and Rasmussen Jonas were the only Europeans left in the badminton tournament.

"This is my best ever match. However, Lin was in very good form and I failed to improve my accuracy," said Gade, the world's No. 8, after losing to Lin Dan from China in straight games.

Gade said he planned to retire after the World Championships next year, while his teammate Kenneth Jonassen also planned to retire after a defeat on Monday.

The Emms/Robberson duo acted as a dark horse in the first round of mixed doubles for defeating world No. 2 Gao Ling and Zheng Bo from China, but they lost to Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae from South Korea.

"We just didn't reach the same heights as the first round and we just didn't play our very best," said Robertson.

Thursday's match could be the last one for Emms before she retires from international badminton. "If that was our last tournament then we've we had a fantastic time. The dream ending that we wanted just didn't happen for us," Robertson said.

The Polish pair lost to He Hanbin and Yu Yang from China at 20-22, 21-23.

Along with the European players, Bao Chunlai from China also tasted a bitter defeat against Lee Hyun-il from South Korea.

As the only Chinese player in the bottom half, Bao failed to secure a final berth for China. Lee Hyun-il will meet No. 2 seed Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia in the semi-final of the bottom half.

The 1.90-meter Bao let his defence easily penetrated by the opponent, and lost the struggle at the net to the much more confident Korean.

"I lagged too much behind 6-15 in the first game, and it cost me too much energy to catch up," said the world No. 3. "Lee played much better at the net."

Men's singles No. 2 seed Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia checked into the semifinals by crushing his "bogeyman" Sony Dwi Kuncoro from Indonesia 21-9, 21-11.

Source:Xinhua