China, Korea and Chinese Taipei into Uber quarterfinals

Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta

China, Chinese Taipei and South Korea each emerged each as group winners and followed Denmark in the quarterfinals of the Uber Cup badminton championship after chalking up their second wins in their last group matches at the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium here on Monday.

The remaining four places in the quarterfinals will be contested between the second and third finishers from the four groups, including Indonesia, which ended up on the bottom behind China and the Netherlands in Group W.

World No. 1 Gong Ruina led defending champion and favorite China a 5-0 win over the Netherlands in Group W.

Camila Martin and her Danish teammates had booked their spot in the quarters earlier after they upset Japan 3-2 in Group Y.

South Korea and Chinese Taipei sealed their places on Monday with a crushing 5-0 win over Australia in Group Z, and a 4-1 victory over Germany in Group X, respectively.

Indonesia will have to win against Germany if it is to stay in the championships with the winner to face South Korea in the quarterfinals.

Malaysia, which finished third in Group Y, will face Group Z runner-up Australia with China already waiting for them at the next stage.

Japan will meet Canada with the winner meeting Chinese Taipei, while the Dutchwomen will tackle South Africa, the winner of which will be rewarded with a game against Denmark.

The playoff matches will begin on Tuesday.

On Monday, Gong opened the scoring for the defending champions with a 13-11, 11-5 win over Karina De Witt. The Dutch team did not field Yao Jie as the first singles player as it did during the 3-2 defeat of Indonesia.

Gong immediately got off to a 6-1 lead before De Witt raced back to force deuce. Gong pulled to a 5-0 lead in the second game and kept De Witt at bay throughout.

The Netherlands had a chance to even the score when Judith Meulendijks nearly stole the match against Zhou Mi. After being getting beat by six points in the first game, she won the second game 13-10 against Zhou Mi. But she fell short in the third game with Zhou closing it out with a 11-5 win.

The rest of the matchups saw the Chinese dominate with Xie Xingfang overwhelming Brenda Beenhakker 11-2, 11-2 in the third singles match, Yang Wei/Huang Sui breezing past Paulien van Doormalen/Eva Krab 15-0, 15-2 in the first doubles and Wei Yin and Zhao Tingting crushing De Wit/Brenda Beenhakker 15-1, 15-3.

Dutch team manager Martijn van Doormalen could have fielded Yao Jie but decided against it to rest Yao for the playoffs.

"We'd rather rest her for our next game for a place in the quarterfinals," he said.

Indonesia's Tuesday challenger, Germany actually had a fair chance to win its match against Chinese Taipei. Chinese-born Xu Huaiwen booked the only point for the Germans when she beat Cheng Shao Chieh 11-4, 11-7 in the first singles match.

German team manager Martin Kranitz said that he was hoping to win all three points from the singles. But his hopes did not materialize when his second singles player Juliane Schenk was beaten by Huang Chia Chi 11-6, 11-1.

"Schenk got a slight injury to her right ankle," he said.

Meanwhile, Jun Jae-yoon and the Korean girls did not have much difficulty with the Australians.