China to have easy match over Japan in semis

Novan Iman Santosa and Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta

Defending champion China is likely to have an easy match against Japan in Thursday's semifinals of the 2004 Uber Cup women's team badminton championships in the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium, Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Meanwhile, European powerhouse Denmark and dark horse South Korea will go head to head in what onlookers predict will be a ferocious semis fight.

While China and Japan have had convincing cup wins in the past, Korea and Denmark have yet to win the competition although they have been consistent finalists.

China defeated South Korea 3-1 two years ago before a home crowd in Guangzhou, while in 2000 the Danes suffered a 3-0 whitewash also at the hands of China in Kuala Lumpur.

Along with the world No. 1 through 3 in its lineup -- Gong Ruina, Zhang Ning and Zhou Mi, China also has world No. 6 Xie Xinfang.

On paper, the Chinese women should barely sweat it out to overpower Japan's Kanako Yonekura, Mori Kaori, Tanaka Miho and rookie Yu Hirayama, who are setting their sights on the 2006 contest in Sendai and Tokyo.

Gong has won all her four encounters against Yonekura. The last time was at the 2004 Japanese Open first round-match, 11-7, 11-6 in April. But no Chinese player took the women's singles title at the event. Considering the Chinese usually bring home the women's singles and doubles titles, this was a surprise.

The match between Denmark and South Korea, meanwhile, is likely to be a fierce one although Danish head coach Steen Pedersen considers his opponent the favorite.

"We will be open-minded and try to field the best team we have on Thursday. The match will be really fun for us, as we've reached our goal of getting into the semifinals," he said.

Korean team manager Kim Jung-soo said his first two singles players had a fair chance of losing their matches against Denmark.

"We must be able to steal a point in the doubles as our level (here) is above the Danes," he said

Korean singles Jun Jae-yun, Seo Yoon-hee, Ha Jeung-eun and junior Lee Yun-hwa have better average rankings than Danes Camilla Martin, Tine Rasmussen, Camilla Sorensen and Amalie Dynnes Orsted.

Former world champion Martin, however, will surely give her best to grab the first point for her team, although she is trailing 2-1 to world No. 7 Jun in previous encounters.

The absence of Ra Kyung-min, who is suffering from injury, is not likely to weaken Korea's doubles performance. Hwang Yu-mi and Lee Hyo-jung are ranked No. 6 in the world. Ra's partner Lee Kyung-won is paired with Yun Hwa to form the second doubles pair.

The Danes, however, are not far away in rankings as Rikke Olsen and Ann-Lou Jorgensen are ranked No. 7 in the world, while their second doubles pair of Mette Schjoldager and Pernille Harder are No. 11.

South Korean shuttlers, however, are known for their stamina. Even without Ra, the Koreans will be tough opponents for the Danes to beat.