 |
China, Denmark to Vie for Uber Cup
The reigning champions China will meet Denmark for the first time in the final of Uber Cup women's team badminton championships following their semifinals victory on Wednesday at the Putra Stadium here on Wednesday.
Both completed the best-of-three ties in three straight games with China crashing Indonesia 3-0 and Denmark overpowering South Korea 3-0.
World top-ranked player Gong Zhichao was unmatchable both at the baseline and on the net as she slashed Ellen Angelina 11-2, 11- 1.
Ge Fei and Gu Jun, the world best women's doubles pair, kept the fast rhythm when they sweat little to conquer Eliza Nathanael and Deyana Lomban 15-9, 15-7 in the first doubles. The tie was actually on the way of no turning back after the first doubles win as Dai Yun snatched the third game 11-6, 11-4. China's head coach Li Yongbo said, "We'd expected to play Denmark in the final game even before the start of the competition. "
"Denmark now are better than Indonesia, so it's not a surprise to counter them in the championship game."
Li said the Chinese women's players would try their best to keep the perfect record in the competition.
"The first singles between Gong Zhichao and Camilla Martin is the most important match, but we'll go all out for a best result." China had never dropped a single game and Dai Yun lost only one set for China in the past three ties.
It was the first time for the Danes to reach the championship game since 1960 when they lost to the United States 5-2 for the second straight time in the finals.
Denmark's coach Kenneth Larsen said, "This is Denmark's first finals appearance in 40 years. We're very proud of our success, and our players delivered great efforts for the win."
World champion Camilla Martin kept her sweeping vow by taking another easy win over Kim Ji Hyun 11-5, 11-7, and Mette Sorensen put the Danes in driving seat with a critical second-singles victory over Lee Kyung Won 11-8, 11-3.
"We had known before the match that we had the chance to beat Koreans, but I was not sure about the second singles game. If we lost, it could be very difficult for others to pull down the win," Larsen said.
Sorensen, ranked 10th in the world, conquered Lee with powerful strikes throughout the game, forcing Lee to committing a series of mistakes.
Helene Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen wrapped up the best-of-five tie with a 15-5, 15-6, victory over Lee Hyo Jung and Chung Jae Hee. To predict the championship game against China, Larsen said, " To play China is very tough, but we still have the chance to beat them."
World No. 2 player Camilla Martin said she was confident to beat world No. 1 player Gong Zhichao of China in the first singles match of the final, which starts on Saturday.
"The first game against Gong Zhichao will be very difficult because she is a very good player and played very well in the past few months.
"The first singles game is almost the most important game. I' ll try my best," Martin said.
Last time the world top two singles shuttlers met was in the Grand Prix Finals in 1999 when Gong had the better of the game.
In This Section
|
