Holders China flirt with defeat

Dave Thompson

China, bidding for a fourth successive Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton triumph, flirted with defeat before eventually disposing of Denmark 3-2 in the semi-finals on Friday.

In Saturday's final, they meet old rivals Indonesia who earlier in the day beat South Korea 3-1 in the other semi-final.

An exciting tussle between the Chinese and the Danes all hinged on the men's doubles where 16th-ranked Zhang Jun and Zhang Wei mocked the ratings to beat world number one pair Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen 15-8, 15-9.

Danish team manager Kenneth Larsen said: "Until the last half hour or so it was all going to plan. They normally don't lose to that pair."

There was no denying the Chinese duo their win, as they made light not only of the ratings but also the oppressive conditions in the playing arena where once again temperatures clung to the 30 degrees Celsius mark for much of the day.

Denmark had got off to a fine start with world number one mixed doubles duo Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen beating Olympic champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling 15-11, 15-8.

Then world women's singles champion Camilla Martin suffered one of the worst nights of her career, losing 11-1, 11-0 to Olympic gold medallist Gong Zhichao in 26 minutes.

It was not that the Dane played badly, more that Gong was near perfection. "I've never seen Gong play like that before," said Larsen.

Martin's fiance Peter Gade put the Danes back in front 2-1 with a courageous 17-15, 15-11 victory over world number four Chen Hong, Gade winning on his fourth match point.

In the women's doubles China's Gao Ling and Huang Sui also played above their ranking of five to thrash second-ranked Ann-Lou Jorgensen and Mette Schjoldager 15-3, 15-2.

FITTING CONCLUSION

That levelled the tie at 2-2 with the men's doubles proving a fitting conclusion as China booked their place in yet another final in the biennial event.

Indonesia owed their victory over South Korea in large part to their singles players Taufik Hidayat and Lidya Djaelawijaya.

Hidayat's 15-11, 15-5 success over Lee Hyun-il levelled the match at 1-1 then Djaelawijaya stormed back to beat Jun Jae-youn 4-11, 11-9, 13-12 in an exciting scrap that lasted 66 minutes.

That left Olympic men's doubles champions Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya to clinch the final slot with a 15-5, 15-7 victory over Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung.

Saturday's final hands the Chinese the opportunity of some revenge for their defeat by Indonesia in last year's Thomas Cup men's team competition.

In the relegation playoff, England hung on to their elite division place with a 3-0 win over Sweden, a victory marked by another yellow card for European women's doubles champion Donna Kellogg - her third in 11 days.