Denmark, China self-assured of Thomas Cup spot<\/p>\n
By Primastuti Handayani<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Denmark and China are quietly confident of
\ntheir chances of winning the Thomas and Uber Cup championships at
\nthe Putra Indoor Stadium here.<\/p>\n
Danish men's singles Peter Gade Christensen said on Tuesday
\nthat his team had a chance, despite the fact that Indonesia and
\nChina were favorites.<\/p>\n
\"If everybody is playing really well, we have a better than
\never chance. We have the spirit from the beginning. We can lose
\nto South Korea and Malaysia in the group's round-robin stage. But
\nif we play to our maximum ability we can beat Korea,\" he said
\nafter a training session.<\/p>\n
Denmark will field Gade Christensen, Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen,
\nKenneth Jonasson and Anders Boesen in the singles event and
\nMartin Lundgaard Hansen, Lars Paaske, Jesper Larsen, Jens
\nEriksen, Michael Sogaard and Jim Laugesen in the doubles.<\/p>\n
They will play India on May 12, South Korea on May 14 and
\nrunner-up Malaysia on May 16.<\/p>\n
\"Most of us have experience competing in Asia. Only Anders and
\nLars are the new members of the team. It's very important to have
\nexperienced players in these championships,\" said the 22-year-old
\nshuttler who joined the team in 1996.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the possibility of meeting defending champions
\nIndonesia, Gade Christensen said Indonesia had the best chance to
\nwin the yellow group, with China following them in second place.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia can win both doubles and one of the singles.
\nAlthough it will be difficult, singles Hendrawan and Taufik
\n(Hidayat) each have chances to win.\"<\/p>\n
\"On the contrary, Chinese players are very young and not used
\nto this type of situation. Xia (Xuanze) and Ji (Xinpeng) are
\nplaying for the first time and I think it will be very difficult
\nfor them to handle the pressure.\"<\/p>\n
\"Maybe they can handle the pressure better in the individual
\nevents but it could be difficult for them. But Sun (Jun) is a
\nvery experienced player and could trouble others.\"<\/p>\n
Another Danish singles Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen said his team
\nmust defeat India 5-0 in the round-robin match.<\/p>\n
\"We must win 5-0 against India to avoid point difference
\ncounting if we tie with another country,\" said the 1996 Olympics
\nchampion.<\/p>\n
\"We may not qualify for the semifinals as Korea has a very
\nstrong doubles team and its first singles have got stronger. They
\ncould capture one of the single tickets to the semifinals.\"<\/p>\n
\"Malaysia has a home crowd behind them and they are equal in
\nboth their singles and doubles teams.\"<\/p>\n
Underdogs<\/p>\n
Chinese men's singles coach Tong Sin Fu said on Tuesday that
\nhe still had no idea of his young shuttlers form in a team event.<\/p>\n
\"I still don't know because we haven't played yet. Let's just
\nwait and see at the match.\"<\/p>\n
China will face defending champion Indonesia in the yellow
\ngroup on May 16. On May 11 China will meet England and Indonesia
\nwill take on Sweden. On May 13, China will face Sweden and
\nIndonesia plays England.<\/p>\n
\"If we look at the Thomas Cup record, Indonesia remains a
\nfavorite. Despite their poor individual tournament results,
\nIndonesia has an advantage as its shuttlers can place themselves
\nas underdogs. But as a team, Indonesia is the seeded one while we
\nare underdogs,\" said Tong, who formerly coached the Indonesian
\nnational team.<\/p>\n
\"Our first singles Xia plays a similar game as Hendrawan. They
\nboth are very tough. While second singles Ji has never met Taufik
\nbefore.\"<\/p>\n
\"Of course we have Sun but he has yet to fully recover from
\nhis injury. We have to see our team's position in the
\nchampionships. If necessary, we will have to field Sun.\"<\/p>\n
Sun injured his right leg when competing in the Thomas Cup
\nqualifying round in New Delhi in February.<\/p>\n
The Badminton Association of China's press officer, Bao Tong,
\nadmitted his team was not a favorite.<\/p>\n
\"Our young players must be technically and mentally on top
\nform as they have never been in this situation before. It's
\nreally difficult to predict. But if we are strong enough, I think
\nthe home crowd here won't be a problem for us. However, it
\ndepends on which team we are facing at the time.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/denmark-china-self-assured-of-thomas-cup-spot-1447893297",
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