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China and South Korea to Vie for Team Title
Home favorites China Sunday scored an easy 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei to set up a final showdown with South Korea in the team event of the World Junior Badminton Championships Sunday in Guangzhou.
The Chinese got off to a fine start as Asian junior champions Sang Yang and Zheng Bo took the men's doubles 7-0, 7-3, 7-2 within 15 minutes.
Wei Yan, 17, overwhelmed Yu-Chin Chien 7-2, 7-1, 7-2 before her Asian junior champions teammates Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen sealed the victory for China with a 8-6, 7-2, 7-1 win over their rivals in the best-of-five mixed team battle.
"I am satisfied with the result and our players' performance, they did quite a good job," China's head coach Chen Xingdong said after the one-sided match. "Tomorrow's final will be a tougher and closer game."
In the other semi-final, South Korea twice came from behind and whitewashed Indonesia 3-0 to reach the final.
South Korean women's doubles pair Joo Hyun Hee and Hwang Yu Mi rallied from two sets down to beat their Indonesian counterparts Lita Nurlita and N.S. Endang 6-8, 1-7, 7-0, 7-3, 7-0, while Lee Jae Jin and Chung Jae Sung scored a similar victory in the men's doubles 5-7, 5-7, 7-5, 7-1, 7-2.
Despondent Indonesians put up no more resist as Mona Santoso lost the women's singles in straight sets.
The biennial championships, inaugurated in 1992, for the first time featured a team competition and carried out an experimental five-set, seven-point scoring system.
The team final was slated for Monday afternoon with individual competitions starting on Tuesday.
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