Chinese men's shuttlers tamed arch rival Indonesia 3-0 to reach
the final of the Thomas Cup badminton championships in Tokyo.
World number-one Lin Dan came through an easy opening game to
beat Olympic and World Champion Taufik Hidayat 21-16, 21-18, before
Cai Yun and Fu Haifen, the world's third-ranked pair, triumphed
24-22, 21-17 against Luluk Hadiyanto and Yulianto Alven.
Tall left-hander Bao Chunlai faced fierce attacks from
Indonesian Soni Dwi Kuncoro in the second singles clash.
The two exchanged leads in a seesaw first set to see Bao win at
21-17.
Bao looked poised to take the second set easily with a 5-2 lead
before Soni unexpectedly turned the table and got nine straight
points to lead 11-5.
Things were a little tight from that point, but Bao managed to
tie it at 22-all. He got the winning point following a mistake from
the Indonesian and wrapped up the victory with 24-22.
The Chinese men will next play Malaysia or Denmark for the
Thomas Cup on Sunday.
Also Chinese women shuttlers are one step away from their tenth
Uber Cup title, the fifth in a row, after sweeping Germany 3-0 in
the semifinal match in Tokyo.
The Chinese team, with the world's top two singles players and
top two pairs, extended its unbeaten streak to four wins without
dropping a match, making it to their twelfth tournament finals
since 1984.
Top-ranked Zhang Ning got a good, hard win over German veteran
Xu Huaiwen to put China in the lead.
Zhang struggled to beat the European Champion 21-17, 21-14,
extending her head-to-head lead to 3-0.
World number-two Xie Xingfang, although facing tough attacks
from Juliane Schenk, added one more victory for China by winning
21-17, 21-16.
Second-seeded pair Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen secured their
ticket to the finals after taking an easy 21-9, 21-4 win over their
German rivals within 26 minutes.
The Chinese women will take on either Chinese Taipei or the
Netherlands in the final clash on Saturday.
(CRI May 5, 2006)