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Thursday May 15, 6:37 PMChina steam into badminton Uber Cup final
China, who are unbeaten at the Uber Cup in 10 years, showed glaring chinks in their armour against the Netherlands in the semi-finals, rallying from 2-1 down after Xie Xingfang and Jiang Yanjiao lost their singles rubbers. That near-disaster, which would have been their worst performance ever, encouraged the Koreans but when it came to the crunch, China proved once again why they are the best in the business. World number one Xie, whose indifferent form in recent months will be a worry for coach Li Yongbo ahead of the Olympics, had a point to prove Thursday after being humbled by Dutch star Jao Yie. She responded by spanking Hwang Hye-Youn 21-9, 21-19 to put China one up. But the world's top doubles team, Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, caved in to the pressure of a hostile Indonesian crowd as they crashed 14-21, 21-17, 21-18 to Koreans' Won Lee-Kyung and Jung Lee-Hyo. There was more riding on this match than met the eye. While Xie and Athens Olympic champion Zhang Ning, who was injured and not playing here, are seen as automatic choices for the Beijing Games, the third singles slot is still up for grabs, with Zhu Lin or Lu Lan in the running. Zhu was rested against the Dutch on Wednesday but Lu, the world number two, showed her mettle to save a match point and go on to win her rubber. She was duly entrusted with the second singles Thursday and romped past Jang Soo-Young 21-9, 21-12 to stake her claim for the vacant Olympic berth. Zhu, as third singles, didn't need to take the court as Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen wrapped up the match with victory over Kim Min-Jung and Ha Jung-Eun. China will meet either hosts Indonesia or surprise package Germany in Saturday's final, with those two teams playing later Thursday. |
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