Defending champions China had to dig deep to avoid a surprise defeat to Indonesia, winning 3-2 on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the Sudirman Cup.
Two days after whipping their arch rivals 5-0 in a group match, China, who have not lost a tie since falling 2-3 to South Korea in the 2003 final, were stunned by a determined and gallant Indonesian outfit.
But Chinese supremo Li Yongbo was unperturbed. China are eyeing their fifth consecutive win in the biennial event.
“We have won it so many times — eight times,” the coach said.
Indonesia’s Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir gave the 1989 champions a dream start when they defeated the world number one mixed doubles pairing of Ma Jin and Xu Chen 21-18, 14-21, 21-16.
China’s Chen Long, as expected, levelled the scores when he beat Tommy Sugiarto 21-11, 21-15. But then Rian Agung Saputro and Angga Pratama edged Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng 19-21, 21-18, 21-15.
The Chinese women then turned on the power as Olympic champion Li Xuerui outclassed Lindaweni Fanetri 21-16, 21-13, and world champions Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli beat Liliyana Natsir and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari 21-12, 21-19.
Meanwhile, South Korea kept up their performance of reaching every Sudirman Cup semi-final when they outclassed Germany 3-0.
The three-time champions were simply too strong for the European champion with their mixed doubles pairing of Ko Sung-Hyun and Kim Ha-Na charting the way, followed by a hard fought men's singles match and then a men’s doubles victory.
South Korea will now face either Japan or Thailand. The two teams are playing later Thursday as are Taiwan and Denmark in another quarter-final.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/content/kishwar-desai
