May 11: China and India were in cruise-control as they eased into the Thomas Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday, while Indonesia and Japan booked their places in the knockout stage of the Uber Cup.
The unstoppable Chinese stormed past fifth seeds South Korea while India saw off Australia and Indonesia’s women barely broke sweat against Denmark to progress with an impressive Japan.
Lin Dan, the world and Olympic champion, got the ball rolling for China, carving out a gripping 21-18, 25-23 victory over Park Sung Hwang, with Chen Jin and Bao Chunlai also winning.
“Park is the number one player in South Korea and it was a good opportunity for me to compete with him,” Lin said. “In the second set he was 17-12 up and I wasn’t focused on the game.
“Park was playing better and it was difficult for me, but if I’d lost it would have been okay because I was prepared for a third set.”
World number 13 Park voiced his frustration over losing a second set which was within his grasp on several occasions.
“Early in the second game Lin Dan played really fast and had a strong attack. I couldn’t catch up with that.
“After the interval I tried to focus and matched his speed and followed his game, and because of that I just cut off at the end. I was really disappointed.”
Yoo Yeon Seong/Ko Sung Hyun, making their Thomas Cup debuts, provided little reason for cheer, beating China’s Guo Zhendong/Chen Xu in the closest match of the tournament so far, as Korea were defeated 4-1.
Indian doubles pairing Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar slipped to an unexpected defeat against Australia’s Glenn Warfe/Ross Smith but India were already assured top spot in their group and ended the tie 4-1 winners.
Parupalli Kayshap built on a promising first day performance, beating Jeff Tho 21-8, 21-10, while Arvind Bhat and R.M.V. Gurusaidutt were equally impressive, winning comfortably to make the doubles matches irrelevant.
In the women’s Uber Cup action, Indonesia finished top of Group B with an emphatic 5-0 win over Denmark, who also qualify, while Japan defeated Russia by the same score in the decider for number one spot in Group C.
Indonesian doubles specialist Greysia Polii teamed up with Nitya Krishinda Maheswari to see off impressive Danish pairing Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen 13-21, 21-15, 12-13.
It was the only set dropped by Indonesia throughout the day and Polii signalled the fourth seeds’ intent with a warning to their rivals.
Later, Malaysia looked lacklustre as they limped into the knockout rounds.
Malaysia go into the quarterfinals without having won a match, after being awarded a walkover when Nigeria failed to turn up on Sunday and losing 3-2 to Japan on Tuesday.
World number one Lee Chong Wei got the hosts off to a flying start with a 21-12, 21-13 win over Japan’s Kenichi Tago to rapturous applause. But the crowd favourites stuttered badly, with their other singles players losing. — AFP