Thomas Cup Semi Final
By akuler
@akuler (3531)
Malaysia
May 12, 2010 9:38pm CST
There were a lot of interesting events happen at this year Thomas Cup final. We saw a few upset and the most interesting one is the failure of Malaysia, host nation, to beat Japan in the group match. Malaysia lost 2-3 after leading 2-0. And the consequences is they need to face Denmark, the badminton powerhouse from Europe, in the quarter final and China at the semi final. The interesting thing is two of the badminton powerhouse nations, South Korea and Denmark, fail to qualify for the semi final.
The teams that qualify for the Semi Final for these edition are Malaysia, China, Indonesia and Japan.
Losing to Japan made Malaysia dream to put their hand again on the trophy become harder. The last time Malaysia won Thomas cup was on 1992, also in Kuala Lumpur. They made a good start when Lee Chong Wei beat Pete Gade Cristansen 21-17 and 21-17. Malaysia first double also won their match in straight game 21-17 and 21-19. After that Denmark recover and won the next two match. Jan Jorgensen beat Wong Choon Han 20-22, 21-16 and 21-18. Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen beat Mohd Zarky Abd Latif and Thien How Hoon 24-26, 21-12 and 21-19. The game was tied at 2-2 and make the third single and final match to be more interesting. But, the match is not as spicy as expected. Mohd Hafiz Hashim beat Joachim Persson easily by 21-12 and 21-10.
China qualify for the semi final in an easy way. They won all first three matches and their second double and third single did not have to go to the court because they already won the game. Lin Dan beat Park Sung Hwan 21-16 and 21-15. China first double, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng beat Jung Jae Sung and Shin Baek Cheol 21-11 and 21-16. China won the tie when Chen Jin beat Shon Wan Ho 21-15 and 21-12.
Indonesia also made an easy passage to the semi final after beating India 3-0. Taufik Hidayat start the party by beating Kashyap Parupalli 21-12, 10-21 and 21-17. The top Indonesia double, Markus Kido and Hendra Setiawan make it 2-0 after an easy win against Sanave Thomas and Akshay Dewalkar, 21-16 and 21-17. Simon Santoso finish the job for Indonesia by winning his match 21-8 and 21-10 against Arvind Bhatt.
Japan is the surprise semi finalist for this edition. Their win against Malaysia play a big part for this adventure. They got an easy opponent as the winner of the group. They meet another European opponent in their quarter final. And Germany is not even a badminton powerhouse in Europe. Japan won the tie with 3-1 result.
Malaysia will face China and Indonesia will lock horn with Japan in the semi final matches this Friday.
What do you think about this edition of Thomas Cup? Any prediction on who would be the finalist and the champion?
2 responses
@adhyz82 (36249)
• Indonesia
14 May 10
icecubic,you are true that china is so pwerful. we must admit that now our players is not like when we have a good players like joko suprianto, alan budikusuma, and so on and the comparison is still same, china, korean, indonesia and malaysia beat each others. but now, it seems thats china is poewerful and no one team can beat them. but i believe thats the situation is so different when they play in name as nations. go go indonesia
@akuler (3531)
• Malaysia
13 May 10
Hi icecubic,
I think Indonesia would not has a problem to beat Japan in the semi final. They has a very good players and only a lost of concentration would deny them the place there. Indonesia also has a lot of fans in Kuala Lumpur and they always stay behind their team all the time.
But I would love to see some surprise happen in this year competition. It would be good for badminton and for the natural. If China win this tournament again as expected, it might reduce the interest from other countries that try to join this sport.
@akuler (3531)
• Malaysia
13 May 10
Hi adhyz,
Even though Malaysia did not has a good single players except Lee Chong Wei and double players except Koo Keng Kiat and Tan Boon Heong, they were expected to top the group and can beat Japan. I think Malaysia players were over confident and pay the consequences.
You are right. I think China is to strong for other teams. They has a very good players in every department, single or double. But if they were over confident, they might face the same thing that happen when China host the tournament in 2002. But in the normal circumstances China would win this year tournament.
Indonesia might has any problem to defeat Japan in the other semi final. Just do not do the same mistake done by Malaysia. It would be a disaster for them too.
