China to meet Denmark in semifinals; Indonesia takes on Korea

By Prakash Padukone

SEVILLE, SPAIN, MAY 31. The stage is now all set for the big giants to have a go at the 7th Sudirman Cup, symbol of supremacy in the world mixed team event. Though more than 53 countries are taking part in this edition of the cup, technically speaking only the top six teams from group 1 have the opportunity to have a go at the title.

Teams in the other six groups are basically playing for various positions. Out of the top four nations that have regularly qualified for the semifinal stage in this event, only Denmark has not won the trophy even once.

The other three countries viz. Indonesia, China and Korea have shared the honours between them on the previous six occasions starting from 1989 when the event was first introduced. This will be the best chance for Denmark to open their account for they are as strong or as weak as any other nation. Only China has a slight edge over the other contenders because of the strength of its ladies team.

Suddenly the Chinese seem to be vulnerable in the men's singles and doubles which will certainly be a cause for worry for the team management.

The strength of the Koreans lie in the paired events-men's doubles, and mixed doubles though they are also not as strong as they used to be at one time.

Indonesia of course has produced the best men's doubles pairs over a period of time and continues to have a stranglehold in this event even today. But its ladies' standard has deteriorated quite substantially which makes it that much more difficult for it to win the Sudirman Cup at the present moment. But nothing is impossible in sports and badminton is no exception. The title is therefore still wide open.

In the group matches played on Wednesday evening to decide the group winners, China and Indonesia topped their respective pools to avoid a semifinal clash.

This means that China will now take on Denmark in the first semifinals and Indonesia will clash with Korea in the other semifinals which will be played on June 1.

China had no difficulty in disposing off Korea, 4-1, whereas Indonesia had to struggle to overcome Denmark, 3-2, in the other group.

It was rather surprising that Denmark decided to rest its top singles players-Peter Gade as well as Camilla Martin. This made the job easier for Indonesia to scrape through. Denmark, however, has still qualified for the last four stage as the second team from the group.

India made a couple of changes for its tie against Russia. It was widely expected that Manjusha Kanwar would replace Meenakshi in the ladies singles but that has not happened as Manjusha is down with a cold.

Similarly in mixed doubles, Jwala would be pairing up with Chetan Anand instead of Manjusha.

The Indians have also reverted back to the original men's doubles combination of Jaseel Ismail and Markose Bristow which means that Gopi Chand will be playing only in the men's singles.

India 1 Russia 1

The day started on a happy note for the Indians when the newly formed mixed doubles pair of Chetan Anand and Jwala scored an unexpected win over the brother-sister combination of Alexander and Anastasia in three games.

Jwala was a bit tentative in the opening game and committed many unforced errors. The Russians did the right thing by attacking Jwala whenever they had an opportunity. This ploy helped them to win the first game easily 15-5.

The Indians regained their composure in the second and jumped to a 7-1 lead before winning the game 15-7. The Russian pair cracked and once the Indians started attacking their low serves. The Russians lost their rhythm and never really got back into the match.

On the other hand Chetan and Jwala grew in confidence and became more aggressive. The Indian pair also started serving better which put additional pressure on the Russians. It was only a matter of time before the Indians romped home 15-8 in the decider.

In the next match Meenakshi seemed to be continuing from where the mixed doubles pair had left off but it was not to be. She could only extend the top Russian girl Ella Karachkova, ranked 42 in the world, to three games before loosing 11-3, 4-11, 6-11. Meenakshi took four points on the very first serve serving low all the time.

Realising that the tall Russian girl was slow to bend near the net, Meenakshi did the right thing by keeping the shuttle down most of the time. She combined her drops and smashes well which kept the Russian girl guessing most of the time.

Ella, however, started moving well in the second game and took control of the match. Meenakshi tried her level best to keep pace with the Russian but a few mistakes at crucial moments in the deciding game let her down. With a little more effort she could have scored a good win over the Russian.

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