China breezes past Japan to Uber Cup final with Korea

Zakki P. Hakim and Novan Iman Santosa, Jakarta

The favorite China was unstoppable as it marched to the final of the Uber Cup after overwhelming the Japanese women's team 3-0 in Thursday's semifinals at the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium in Jakarta.

The defending champion will now face South Korea, which was forced to go to the wire before winning its semifinal match over Denmark 3-2.

Lee Kyung-won and Lee Yun-hwa decided the Korean triumph in the fifth match in which the two Lees made an outstanding comeback to win 15-13, 5-15, 15-10 over Mette Schjoldager and Pernille Harder.

Earlier that day in front of a dwindling crowd, World No. 1 Gong Ruina was too strong for Japanese Kanako Yonekura, ranked at No. 11. She outplayed Yonekura 11-5, 11-2.

China doubled the lead with world's second-best doubles Gao Ling and Huang Sui, crushing Shizuka Yamamoto and Seiko Yamada 15-3, 15-2.

In the third match, World. No. 2 Zhang Ning took the first game over Kaori Mori relatively easily, 11-7. However, Mori posed a tougher challenge for the Chinese player.

It initially seemed a balanced matchup, with Mori leveling the score 4-4. She found herself behind again at 9-4, before reducing the gap to 9-7.

Zhang held off the Japanese player in the remaining phase of the game to wrap it up 11-7, and booked a place for the Chinese in the final.

Chinese team manager Li Yongbo was delighted with the win, saying his players had proved much stronger than the Japanese.

Meanwhile, his Japanese compatriot, Shuji Matsuno, said his shuttlers had performed their best against China.

"The Chinese team is a cut above the other teams. I have no doubt China will defend its title," he said.

Matsuno looked ahead to when Japan would host the championship in 2006, saying they would put in a better performance than they did in Jakarta.

The Japanese cities of Tokyo and Sendai will host the 2006 Thomas Cup and Uber Cup championships, where, as Matsuno said, the host will look to field more young shuttlers while maintaining its seniors.

Later in the evening, Denmark, the only European left in contention, pulled to a 2-0 lead in its semifinal match against South Korea.

Camilla Martin opened her team's victory by thrashing Lee Jae- youn 11-6, 11-6 in the first singles.

Tine Rasmussen bounced back from the first game's defeat to post a 9-11, 11-5, 11-6 win over Seo Yoon-hee.

However, 18-year-old Lee Yun-hwa revived Korean hopes when she displayed a commanding game over Camilla Sorensen to wrap up a 11-1, 11-7 win in the match, in which the Dane squandered a 6-4 lead.

Then, Denmark held an advantage. Rikke Olsen and Ann-Lou Jorgensen won the first game 15-10 against Lee Hyo-jung and Hwang Yu-mi.

Lee and Hwang fought back to win the second game 15-6 before the two sides ran neck-to-neck in the third game, with the Koreans finishing it 17-15 to bring the score to 2-2.