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Stadium Badminton Kuala Lumpur
3 1/2 Mile Jalan Cheras
56000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (+60) 3 92845421
Fax: (+60) 3 92843251
Email: bac@badmintonasia.org
For court booking call:
Tel: (+60) 3 92849576
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JAPAN QUALIFIES FOR FIRST-EVER THOMAS CUP SEMI-FINALS
China is posed tantalizingly close to collecting a ‘double’ as the Thomas and Uber Cup competitions enter the semi-final stage in Kuala Lumpur. In both events, Chinese players are heavily favoured to repeat their success of the last season.
None of the teams China will face in the semi-finals – Malaysia in the Thomas Cup and Indonesia in the Uber Cup, have been impressive enough in the run-up to this stage of the competition to pose a serious threat.
Last night, host Malaysia which had lost its final group B game to Japan a day earlier, was stretched to five matches by the Danes. Except for its top singles player, the world top-ranked Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia does not have the depth or quality that China has brought down to Kuala Lumpur. That tie is not expected to go beyond four matches.
In the case of the Uber Cup semi-final against Indonesia, Chinese girls should wrap up the tie in double quick time. Indonesia does have the material in the mould of Susi Susanti in its lineup anymore and that would be decisive.
Japan is the surprise semi-finalist in the Thomas Cup. This is its first ever qualification to the last four in the series. With the Indonesians being notoriously inconsistent, the Japanese have a good chance of making history in Kuala Lumpur by edging the 14-time champions in one of the semis to be played on Friday evening at 6.00pm local time.
Part of that history could include a first-ever presence of Japan in the Finals of both the Thomas and Uber Cups! The Japanese girls, who unlike their men counterparts have won the World Team Championships on four occasions a long time back. They won it for the first time in 1966, defended it successfully in ’69 & ’72 and then wrestled it back for yet another term in 1978.
Though they are pretty good yet the Koreans should start the early favourites.
Results of last night’s quarter-final matches
Thomas Cup:
Malaysia beat Denmark 3-2
China beat Korea 3-0
Indonesia beat India 3-0
Japan beat Germany 3-1
Uber Cup:
Indonesia beat Malaysia 3-0
China beat India 3-0
Korea beat Russia 3-1
Japan beat Denmark 3-1
Schedule of semi-final matches
Uber Cup (Thursday 13)
Korea vs Japan
China vs Indonesia
Thomas Cup (Friday 14)
China vs Malaysia
Indonesia vs Japan
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