China outclass India

China outclass India
R RAMACHANDRAN

NEW DELHI, FEB 19: Korean doubles specialist Kyung Min Ra was the player of the day. Her epic singles followed by the doubles brought Korea back from the brink to upset a struggling Indonesia 3-2 and help them storm into the final of the BPL-Asian Uber Cup badminton tournament at the IG Stadium on Saturday.

In a Thomas tie, China shut out India 3-0. In the other semi-final, the Korean men scored an identical 3-0 win over Thailand. This left the Indians and the Thais to settle it out in the play-off on Sunday. The winner of that grabs the third spot from the on-going qualifiers.

After P Gopi Chand and Abhinn Shyam Gupta were rested -- China also did not play Sun Jun -- Kanetkar was dancing to the tune of Chen Hong to go down 6-15, 4-15. Expectedly, there was no respite for the Indian pair of Vincent Lobo/Jaseel P Ismail who lost to the Chinese duo Jinhao Yu/Qiqui Chen 4-15, 6-16 and Sidharth Jain just caved in under the onslaught of Xinpeng Ji 8-15, 6-15.

In fact, of the two singles, Jain tried his best to stretch the 14th ranked Chinese but failed to match the footwork of his opponent and, more than, the half-court smashes by the Chinese proved beyond his reach. After the Chinese took a winning 3-0 lead, the tie was stopped as per the rules.

RESULTS :
Thomas Cup (semi-finals): China bt India 3-0 (Chen Hong bt Nikhil Kanetkar 15-6, 15-4; Yu Jianhua and Chen Qiqui bt Vincent Lobo and Jaseel Ismail 15-4, 15-6; Ji Xingpeng bt Siddharth Jain 15-8, 15-6); Korea bt Thailand 3-0 (Sueng Mo Shon bt Jakrapan Thanathirat 15-8, 15-5; Lee Hyun II bt Sudket Prapakamol 15-6, 15-2; Sun Ho Hwang bt Patapol Ngernsrisuk 15-1, 15-2)

Uber Cup: Korea bt Indonesia 3-2 (Kim Ji Hyun lost to Lidya Djaelawijay 12-13, 5-11, Lee Kyung Wn lost to Elen Angelina 11-3, 7-11, 9-11; Ra Kyung Min bt Yuli Marfuah 11-9, 11-9; Lee Hyo Jung and Yim Kyung Jin bt Etty Tantri/Cynthia 15-13, 16-17, 15-10; Japan bt Korea 3-1 (Yasuko Mizui bt Ling Wan Tin 11-5, 11-6; Kanaka Yonekura bt Koon Wai Chae 11-4, 11-5; Miho Tanaka lost to Wang Chan 11-9, 4-11, 5-11; Yoshiko Iwata and Haruko Matsada bt Wai Chee Koon and Chan Mei Mei 15-4, 15-2).