China Beat South Korea for World Junior Team Title

China Beat South Korea for World Junior Team Title

China squeezed past South Korea 3-2 by virtue of winning the final women's doubles to claim the first team title of the World Junior Badminton Championships Monday afternoon in Guangzhou.

Cheered on by the home crowd, the Chinese went ahead through mixed doubles pair Zheng Bo and Wei Yili. After playing to a deadlock of 2-2 draw with Lee Jae Jin and Hwang Yu Mi in the first four sets, the Asian junior titlists Zheng and Wei clinched the fifth and final set 7-2 for the victory.

In the men's singles, Li Dan, 17-year-old Asian junior champion from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, scored a came-from-behind victory over his South Korean counterpart Jung Young Soo 3-7, 7-4, 7-1, 4-7, 7-5 to lift China 2-0 up.

The South Koreans managed to pull one back when their women's singles shuttler Jun Jae Youn outlasted Chinese Wei Yan in five sets before Lee Jae Jin and Chung Jae Sung squared the match at 2-all by ralling past Zheng Bo and Sang Yang from two sets down 0-7, 0-7, 7-5, 7-2, 8-6 in the men's doubles.

At the crucial point, Wei, paired with Zhang Yawen, snatched the women's doubles and the crown for China with straight sets victory over Joo Hyun Hee and Hwang Yu Mi.

Indonesia, who lost to South Korea in the semi-finals Sunday evening, overtook Chinese Taipei for the third-place in the newly-introduced team event, which used Sudirman Cup formation, of the biennial championships.

Competitions for five individual titles will start on Tuesday.