Reigning champ China rolls into Uber Cup final
JAKARTA: It was back to business for defending champion China, which raced into the Uber Cup final yesterday, pounding South Korea 3-1 to move to the brink of a sixth consecutive title.
China, which is unbeaten at the Uber Cup in 10 years, showed glaring weaknesses against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, rallying from 2-1 down after Xie Xingfang and Jiang Yanjiao lost their singles rubbers.
That near-disaster, which would have been their worst performance ever, encouraged the Koreans but when it came to the crunch, China proved once again why it is the best in the business.
World No 1 Xie, whose indifferent form in recent months will be a worry for coach Li Yongbo ahead of the Olympics, had a point to prove yesterday after being humbled by Dutch star Yao Jie.
She responded by spanking Hwang Hye-Youn 21-9, 21-19 to put China one-up.
But the world's top doubles team, Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, caved in to the pressure of a hostile Indonesian crowd as they crashed 14-21, 21-17, 21-18 to Won Lee-Kyung and Jung Lee-Hyo.
There was more riding on this match than met the eye.
While Xie and Athens Olympic champion Zhang Ning, who is injured and not playing here, are seen as automatic choices for the Beijing Olympics, the third singles slot is still up for grabs, with Zhu Lin and Lu Lan in the running.
Zhu was rested against the Dutch on Wednesday but Lu, the world No 2, showed her mettle to save a match point and go on to win her rubber.
She was duly entrusted with the second singles yesterday and romped past Jang Soo-Young 21-9, 21-12 to stake her claim for the vacant Olympic berth.
Zhu, as third singles, didn't need to take the court as Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen wrapped up the match with victory over Kim Min-Jung and Ha Jung-Eun.
National coach Li said that despite unexpectedly dropping the doubles rubber, he was pleased.
"Despite having lost a couple of games, my players still have a lot of confidence in themselves," he said.
"Some countries like Nigeria, Canada and the United States are not expected to win so they have no pressure, but for us, where there are very high expectations that we will win, it is natural for us to feel the pressure.
"The players we have at this tournament are young, it is the first time for many of them. I feel it is a very crucial and important training process for them to come here and go through this sort of pressure."
China will meet either host Indonesia or surprise package Germany in Saturday's final, with those two teams playing later yesterday.
Li added that all he asked from his players was that they tried their best.
"I am very pleased with them," he said.
The men's Thomas Cup semis are an all-Asian affair and will be played today.
China is aiming for its third straight title and takes on South Korea, which is striving to land the prestigious trophy for the first time.
In the other semifinal, 13-time champion Indonesia is up against Malaysia.
AFP
(China Daily 05/16/2008 page23)
