Chinese women continue their domination

By Prakash Padukone

KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 15. China and Denmark emerged easy victors on the fifth day in the Uber Cup matches played on Monday evening at Stadium Putra, Kuala Lumpur. In the last group tie played simultaneously on four courts, China thrashed Korea 5-0 to become the first team to qualify for the knock-out stage. It remained unbeaten in its group matches and demoralised all opponents without mercy.

In fact, it beat all teams 5-0. In the process it lost only one game, Dai Yun being extended to three games by Judith of Netherlands. As leaders of Group B it now takes on Indonesia in the semifinals which finished runner-up in Group A behind

Denmark.

Second seeded Denmark also lived up to its reputation and easily entered the knock-out stage by winning all the three matches it played in Group A. However, it was not as convincing as China and was forced to drop a couple of matches against Malaysia and Indonesia.

Nevertheless it still emerged on top of Group A and will take on Korea in the second semifinal. Korea also made it to the last four stage despite being white-washed by China on Monday evening. It emerged as the second best team from Goup B behind China with victories over Sweden and Netherlands. Both the semifinals will be played on Wednesday evening.

Today being a rest day for the Thomas Cup matches, there was not much excitement in the stadium. Most of the matches played were listless and one-sided with nothing much to write home about.

China literally toyed with the Koreans and bull-dozed its opponent. It played at half pace and yet managed to win all the matches without conceeding double figures in any game. It looked as if Korea was not interested in even putting up a decent fight. In less than an hour China had wrapped up all the three singles. The Koreans perhaps felt that there was no point in going all out against the formidable Chinese for they had already

assured themselves of a place in the semifinals as the second team from the group and chances of beating China even if they went all out was extremely remote. The only disadvantage for the Koreans is that they would now run into a much stronger Denmark at the last four stage instead of the weaker Indonesians.

The Danish girls were also equally ruthless. They easily won the first three matches against Japan before encountering some resistance in the second doubles and third singles. In fact the second doubles and third singles has been the weak link in the Danish line-up and this could cost them dearly when they take on more formidable opponents from now on.

The Danish second pair lost both their matches against Indonesia and Malaysia. Similarly, Mette Pedersen who plays third singles for Denmark has been rather tentative though she has managed to win both her matches so far.

One expected a close encounter between Indonesia and Malaysia in the final Uber Cup tie after some fine performances from the Malaysian girls in the earlier matches. But the Indonesians had other ideas and had no difficulty in overcoming the host by a 5-0 margin. For a moment one thought that the tie was being played in Jakarta and not in Kuala Lumpur. Such was

the atmosphere created by the Indonesian supporters who had gathered in fairly large numbers. On the contrary there was not much support forthcoming for the Malaysian girls. Not that a bigger crowd would have altered the ultimate result, but it was quite unusual nevertheless.

Full house expected

A full house is expected on the morrow when two cricial Thomas Cup ties will be played simultaneously in the evening. On court No.2, host Malaysia faces the biggest challenge of its Thomas Cup campaign when it takes on European champion Denmark. It desperately needs a victory to remain in contention for a place in the last four stage. Korea did it a big favour on Sunday when they it Denmark 3-2 in a crucial Group B encounter. Both Malaysia and Denmark have lost to Korea and the winner of Tuesday's match between them will go ahead as the second team behind Korea. The Koreans have a relatively easy match against India and are likely to put it across to top the group.

The other interesting match will be between traditional rivals Indonesia and China who have been drawn in the same group. Going by current form, this is likely to be a dress rehearsal of the Thomas Cup final.

Both teams have remained unbeaten so far and Tuesday's winner will head the group. Holder Indonesia clearly has an edge in the doubles whereas China's strength lies in singles. Both Indonesia and China have not used their injured trump-cards so far, namely Heryanto Arbi and Sun Jun. Whether they will use them is not certain. In any case one can expect a thriller between these two world giants.

The Indians on Sunday gave a good account of themselves in their match against Malaysia. Siddharth Jain even managed to snatch a valuable point for India when his opponent Roslin Hashim conceeded mid-way in the third game complaining of shoulder trouble. At that stage Siddharth led 8-4 and would probably have won the match in any case. Even the other players acquitted themselves well. On the whole a vastly improved performance from the boys after their disappointing display on the opening day against Denmark. One only hopes that they continue their good form against Korea on Tuesday as well.

The results:

Uber Cup: Group B: China bt Korea 5-0 (Gong Zhicha bt Jin Sun Si 11-3, 11-4; Dai Yun bt Yeon Kyung Jung 11- 3, 11-2; Gong Ruina bt So Yeon Kim 11-3, 11-2; Gao Ling-Qin Yiyuan bt Jin Sun Si-Lee Hyo Jung 15-5, 15-8; Gu Jun-Ge Fei bt Yeon Kyung Jung-Kim So Yeon 15- 2, 15-6).

Denmark bt Japan 3-2 (Camilla Martin bt Yasuko Mizui 11-3, 11-1; Helene Kirkegaard-Rikke Olsen bt Yoshiko Iwata-Haruko Matsuda 15- 7, 15-3; Mette Sorensen bt Takako Ida 11-3, 11-1; Majken Vange- Pernille Harder lost to C. Nakayama-N. Murakami 15- 8, 4-15, 14- 17; Mette Pedersen lost to Miho Tanaka 7-11, 10-13).

Indonesia bt Malaysia 5-0 (Lidya Djaelawijaya bt Mee Fen Ng 11-6, 11-9; E. Nathanael-D. Lomban bt Lim Pek Siah-J. SweeLing Quay 15- 2, 15-11; E. Angelina bt M.K. Wong 11-5, 13-10; E. Tantri-C. Tuwankotta bt Ang Li Peng-Hooi Yee Chor 15-3, 15-9; Y. Marfuah bt P.T. Wong 6-11, 11-5, 11-1.

Netherlands bt Sweden 3-2 (J. Meulendijks lost to Margit Borg 11- 6, 8-11, 7-11; Karina DeWit lost to Karolina Ericsson 7-11, 6-11; Lonneke Jansson bt Johanna Holgersson 11-5, 11-13, 11-3; N. VanHooren-L. Jonathans bt J. Persson-A. Lundin 15-9, 15-13; J. Meulendijks-L. Janssen bt Margit Borg-J. Holgersson 15-12, 15-8.

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