Korea spoils Denmark's party

By Prakash Padukone

KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 14. The Indians played true to their potential and put up a much better performance in the second group tie against host Malaysia on day four of the Thomas/Uber Cup final rounds, at Stadium Putra, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday evening.

Today reigning national champion and World No. 34 Pullela Gopi Chand looked much more confident than in his opening match against World No. 1 Peter Gade of Denmark. Though Gopi could not win his match against the World No. 4 and 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Wong Choong Hann, he did well to extend the Malaysian to the decider.

In the opening game, Gopi took an early 9-7 lead. Left-handed Wong hit repeatedly over the baseline and committed too many unforced errors. This helped Gopi not only to maintain the lead, but also move to game point at 14-13.

At this stage Wong switched over to low backhand serve and quickly scored 4 points to wrap up the opening game. However, Gopi did not give up in the second game and snatched it over extra points after taking leads of 7-1, 8-4, and 13-9.

The Malaysian was totally in command after the breather and won the deciding game for the loss of only one point. Nevertheless, it was a vastly improved performance from Gopi, who had lost to the same player in the Commonwealth Games in 1998.

In the next match the Malaysians were in for a surprise. The top Indian combination of Vijaydeep Singh and Markose Bristow combined beautifully to win the first game 15-7 to the surprise of all those present in the stadium. The Malaysian pair Lee Wang Wah and Choong Tan Fook quickly retrieved the situation by going on the attack in the second and third games to emerge victorious by conceding only two and one points respectively.

Encouraged by Gopi's performance, Nikhil Kanetkar also gave a good account of himself in his match against Yong Hock Kin, who had come in place of the injured Ong Ewe Hock. Nikhil started badly and was down 0-9 in no time. He picked up his game thereafter, and narrowed the gap to lose 9-15. He did even better in the next game and took Hock Kin to extra points. However, Nikhil could not stop the Malaysian from giving his team the crucial third victory.

On an adjoining court a vastly improved Korean men's team created yet another upset when it overcame a tenacious Denmark 3-2. With only one more tie against India remaining, Korea has almost made sure of topping the tough Group A - a feat which has not been achieved by it so far.

Denmark started its day's proceedings against Korea with a bang when Peter Gade produced a superlative performance to outclass Korea No. 1 Shon Seng Mo in two games. But the ever reliable pair of Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon put Korea back in contention with a straight games victory over Martin Hansen and Lars Paaske. In fact the Korean pair was down throughout the first game, but managed to hang on and win over extra points.

The hero of the opening day's tie Lee Hyun Li of Korea once again proved that his victory over Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia was no flash in the pan when he scored another creditable victory over the reigning Olympic gold medallist Poul Erik Hoyer-Larsen to put his country on road to another sensational victory.

In the battle of two left handers, Lee yet again showed his fighting qualities by overcoming Larsen in three tough games. The Korean saved several game points in the first game and reduced the margin from 10-14 to 13-14.

But Hoyer-Larsen used his experience to great advantage and scored the last point with a beautiful overhead cross-court smash which caught the Korean on the wrong foot. The Dane was on course to a comfortable victory and was in command right through till 10-8. At this stage, the Korean kept the bird in play and increased the pace. The Dane got a bit rattled and tried to finish the game. However, he could not maintain the pace and slowed down just a bit. This was enough indication for the never- say-die Korean. He levelled the score at 12 and took the next three points in a row to force the issue to the decider. In the third game the Korean always had an upper hand being the younger of the two players. He took advantage of the situation and won 15-12 - another creditable victory, indeed.

The Danes pulled one back with a surprise victory in the second doubles, when Jesper Larsen and Jens Eriksen accounted for Lee and Yoo. However, the Koreans were determined not to let go this great opportunity to top Group A after having come so far. Park Tae Sang provided Korea with the winning point by scoring a great victory over Kenneth Jonassen, who has not had a great tournament so far.

Convincing wins for China, Korea

Holder China and Korea took their appointed places in the semifinals of the Uber Cup from Group B by getting the better of the Netherlands and Sweden respectively. Both countries scored identical 5-0 victories and will now face each other on Monday evening to decide the group winner.

In the opening singles, Judith Meulendijks of the Netherlands had the distinction of becoming the first player in this tournament to extend a Chinese player. She made Dai Yun earn every point and never give up till the end. Judith has been impressive in this tournament so far.

The former European junior champion almost beat the Korea No. 1 Kim Ji Hyun in the previous encounter. She lost 9-11 in the third game to the Korean after giving a good account of herself. Again on Sunday evening she extended World No. 3 Dai Yun to three games.

Judith is certainly a champion material for the future and has the right qualities to be one. For one so young she has the temperament and fighting qualities required to be a top level performer. She is certain to take over from Camille Martin as the European champion in the not too distant future. She is very focussed even in her practise sessions - something which our Indian girls need to learn. In fact, Aparna Popat had beaten her without conceding a point in the World junior championships in 1996 in Denmark. However, she has come a long way since then and is currently ranked 17 in the world.

The Chinese girls have so much depth in both singles and doubles that they could afford to rest their top player Gong Zhichao ranked No. 2 in the world, and yet come up with an impressive line-up consisting of Dai Yun (World No. 3), Ye Zhao Ying (World No. 4) and Gong Ruina (World No. 5).

What can any team do against such a strong opposition? In a way it is not good for the game in general if one country becomes so strong that there is hardly any chance for the opposition to win. Even from the spectators point of view, there is not much interest left as everyone knows who the winner will be. Of course, it is not China's fault that it has become so strong. Other countries like Denmark, Korea, Indonesia etc. must produce players of the same calibre. Only then will women's badminton become more interesting especially in team events.

The results:

Thomas Cup: Malaysia bt India 4-1 (Wong Choong Hann bt P. Gopi Chand 1-14, 14-17, 15-1; Lee Wang Wah/Choong Tan Fook bt Markose Bristow/Vijaydeep 7-15, 15-2, 15- 1; Yong Hock Kin bt Nikhil Kanetkar 15-9, 17-14; Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock bt George Thomas/Jaseel P. Ismail 15-6, 15-3; Hashim M. Roslin lost to Sidharth Jain 10-15, 15-5, 4-15).

Denmark lost to Korea 3-2 (Peter Gade Christensen bt Shon Seung Mo 15-5, 15-10; Martin Lundgaard Hansen/Lars Paaske lost to Kim Dong Moon/Ha Tae Kwon 16-17, 5-15; Poul-Erik Hoyer- Larsen lost to Lee Hyun Li 15-13, 12-15, 12-15; Jesper Larsen/Jens Eriksen bt Lee Dong Soo/Yoo Yong Sung 15-10, 15-1; Kenneth Jonassen bt Park Tae Sang 7-15, 7-15).

Uber Cup: Group `B': China bt Netherlands 5-0 (Dai Yun bt Judith Meulendijks 11-3, 7-11, 11-7; N. Huang/W. Yang bt N. Van Hooren/L. Jonathans 15-4, 15-2; Ye Zhaoying bt Karina de Wit 11- 1, 11-0; Gao Ling/Qin Yiyuan bt C. Glebbeek/Betty Krab 15-0, 15- 0; R. Gong bt L. Janssen 11-6, 11-0.

Korea bt Sweden 5-0 (Kim Ji Hyun bt Margit Borg 6-11, 13-12, 11- 7; Kyung Won Lee bt Karolina Ericsson 11-2, 11-7; Kim Kyeung Ran bt Johanna Holgersson 11-7, 11-0; Hyo Jung Lee/Kyung Jin Yim bt J. Persson/A.Lundin 15-8, 15-9; Kyung Won Lee/Jae Hee Chung bt Margit Borg/J. Holgersson 15-5, 15-7.

Saturday's results: Uber Cup:

Denmark beat Indonesia 4-1 (Camilla Martin beat Lidya Djaelwijaya 11-3, 11-2; Helene Kirkegaard-Rikke Olsen beat Nathanael Eliza- Deyana Lomban 12-15, 15-10, 15-6; Mette Sorensen beat Ellen Angelina 11-4, 11-9; Majken Vange-Penille Harder lost to Minarti Timur-Zelin Resiana 10-15, 15-7, 5-15; Mette Pedersen beat Ninik Masrikah 8-11, 11-4, 11-1).

Japan beat Malaysia 3-2 (Yasuko Mizui beat Mei Fen Ng 11-6, 11-1; Yoshiko Iwata-Haruko Matsuda lost to Pek Siah Lim- Joanna Swee Ling Quay 13-15, 11-15; Takako Ida beat Miew Kheng Wong 11-5, 11- 0; Chikako Nakayama-Naomi Murakami lost to Li Peng Ang-Hooi Yee Chor 15-10, 11-15, 15-17; Miho Tanaka beat Sze Mei Woon 13-10, 11-4).

Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann celebrates after winning his match against India's P. Gopichand in the Thomas Cup in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. (right) Kim Ji Hyun of South Korea reaches for the shuttle in her match against Borg Margit of Sweden in the Uber Cup.

- Reuters

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