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| May 6, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1427 |
China face Denmark in Thomas Cup final
TOKYO, May 5: World number one Lin Dan humbled Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat on Friday when holders China trounced 13 times champions Indonesia 3-0 to reach the Thomas Cup final.
China, who have won the men's world team competition five times, will face Denmark in Sunday's final in a repeat of 2004 after the Danes edged out Malaysia 3-2 in the second semifinal.
Lin overpowered Hidayat 21-16 21-8 in the opening rubber of the biggest match of the tournament so far.
“I'm so proud of the way we played today,” Chinese coach Li Yongbo told reporters. “They kept believing in their ability even when they were put under pressure.”
Hidayat was struggling with a back injury and his 22-year-old Chinese opponent took full advantage.
The Olympic champion had been well below-par in his first tournament in six weeks and was unable to keep pace with Lin who embarrassed him at times with lightning quick attacking play.
“It was important to get us off to a winning start,” said Lin who made clever use of the drop shot against his suffering opponent. “I could see Taufik was having trouble hanging on.”
The Chinese won a tightly contested doubles 24-22 21-17 before Bao Chunlai's 21-17 24-22 victory over three-times Asian champion Soni Dwi Kuncoro killed off Indonesia.
World number three Peter Gade beat Chong Wei Lee 21-19 21-18 while Kenneth Jonassen and Joachim Persson also won their singles rubbers to give Denmark a narrow victory over 1992 champions Malaysia.
“I'm happy I could give the team a 1-0 lead and make things a little easier,” Gade said. “We still needed to fight to get the job done. Malaysia are always a very tough team.”
Denmark have never won badminton's version of the Davis Cup but have been runners-up seven times, including in 2004 when when they lost to China in Jakarta.—Reuters
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