China hopes to meet RI in Thomas final

Damar Harsanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 05/15/2008 12:35 PM  |  Sports

Defending champion China has launched an early challenge to Indonesia, saying it relishes a possible encounter with the host team in the Thomas Cup final.

Indonesia, whose run of five consecutive championships in the men's badminton tournament between 1994 and 2002 was ended by China, is determined to win back the trophy in front of its home supporters.

On Wednesday, China maintained its perfect record in the tournament with a 3-0 whitewash of Thailand to book a place in the semifinals.

Indonesia earlier recorded an easy 3-0 win over England. China head coach Li Yongbo viewed a prospective meeting with Indonesia in the final as an interesting challenge.

"I'd like to play Indonesia rather than any other team in the final," he said after the match against Thailand.

"Other good teams like Malaysia, Korea and Denmark can still make it to the final, but Indonesia has a better chance because it's playing at home," said the former world No. 1 doubles specialist.

He said he remained optimistic his team would take home the Cup for the seventh time. Indonesia is seeking its 14th championship since the tournament began in 1958.

"It doesn't matter where we play. As China's coach, I want my team to win," Li said.

China and Indonesia are in different halves of the tournament draw. China will face Malaysia in the semifinal, after the latter beat Japan 3-0 while Indonesia will play the winner of the South Korea-Denmark match in the other semifinal.

While Indonesia had a shaky start to the tournament, China, led by world No. 1 Lin Dan, has dominated its opponents.

Wednesday's match was no exception, as Lin Dan beat Thai No. 1 Boonsak Ponsana 21-15, 21-14 in 35 minutes.

World champion Lin - often referred to as "Super Dan" -controlled much of the game with his superior defensive and offensive skills.

Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng then doubled China's lead by beating Tesana Panvisavas and Nuttaphon Narkthong 21-12, 21-17.

The former world No. 1 doubles pair were helped by scrappy defensive play from the Thai pair, and wrapped up the match in only 27 minutes.

In the final game, Bao Chunlai beat Poompat Sapkulchananart 21-14, 21-11 in 32 minutes to seal victory for China.

In the Malaysia-Japan match, world No. 2 Lee Chong Wei eased past Japan's Shoji Sato 21-10, 21-16 in 32 minutes to give Malaysia the early lead.

In the next match, newly paired Koo Kien Keat and Choong Tan Fook beat Shintaro Ikeda and Shuichi Sakamoto 21-13, 21-11 in 31 minutes to put Malaysia further ahead. Koo usually pairs up with Tan Boon Heong.

Wong Choon Hann then gave hundreds of Malaysian supporters something to cheer about by defeating Kenichi Tago 21-13, 21-18 to send his team through to the semifinals.

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