Indonesia pounds lowly Finland in Thomas Cup

Indonesia pounds lowly Finland in Thomas Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia, the odds-on favorite to win the Thomas Cup, began its campaign for badminton's blue ribbon with a bang, demolishing unfancied Finland 5-0 at Senayan indoor stadium last night.

It was plain sailing for the star-studded Indonesian team as Joko Suprianto and company stood head and shoulders over their Finnish opposite numbers, who were completely outclassed, outstroked and outwitted.

The world beating Indonesian players proved too powerful for the Finns who managed only token resistance as they went down with a whimper.

It was one way traffic all the way, with the hosts scoring point after point almost at will. The Scandinavian players, making their first appearance in the Thomas Cup finals, were novices at the feet of the Indonesian badminton masters.

The fireless Finnish team had many wondering how they qualified for the finals at the expense of England, one of Europe's traditional powerhouses alongside Denmark and Sweden.

World number one Joko toyed with Robert Liljequist before inflicting a hammering 15-3, 15-4 defeat in the first singles.

Reigning All-England champion Hariyanto Arbi, playing relaxed, gave a badminton lesson to Jyri Aalto whom he whipped 15-5, 15-7 in less than 20 minutes.

Ricky Subagya and Rexy Mainaky made short work of Tony Tuominem and Mikael Segercrantz , 15-4, 15-5 in the first doubles match, before Ardy Wiranata strolled to a 15-3, 15-5 victory over Lasse Lindelof in the third singles. The All-England doubles champions, Gunawan and Bambang Suprianto completed the shutout with another thumping 15-1, 15-3 win over their completely overmatched opponents, Aalto and Jari Eriksson.

Indonesia will next meet Sweden tomorrow. Sweden stole a point before finally gave up to China 1-4 in yesterday's other Thomas Cup match. Sweden's second singles Thomas Johansson stunned the four-time winner as he beat Dong Jiong 15-6, 17-15 to help his move up to 2-1, but that's as close as they ever got. Earlier Chinese first singles Liu Jun tamed Jens Olsson 15-10, 15-12 and main doubles Chen Kang and Chen Hongyong painstakingly beat Jan- Eric Antonsson and Mikael Rosen 15-7, 15-11 to give China 2-0 lead.

China's number two doubles Jiang Xin and Huang Zhanzhong gave their squad an unbeatable lead after downing Par-Gunnar Jonsson and Rickard Magnusson 15-7, 15-6. Playing in an indecisive match, Chinese junior player Sun Jun showed his class to topple Patrik Andreasson 15-12, 15-11 in a hard-fought battle lasting almost an hour. Uber Cup

In the Uber Cup, defending champion China breezed to a resounding 5-0 victory over underdog Russia, which is making its debut in the competition.

Ye Zhaoying, China's top player and ranked third in the world, outclassed Marina Andeievsuaya 11-3, 11-8. Han Jingna extended China's lead by beating Irina Jakusheva, 11-3, 11-2.

China went further ahead when Ge Fei and Gu Jun scored an effortless 15-5, 15-4 win over Marina Jakusheva and Svetlana Alfirova.

Zhang Ning then stepped onto the court to outlast Elena Denisova 11-6, 11-0, before the pair of Wu Yuhong and Chen Ying completed the rout by beating Irina and Nedezhda Chervjakova.

The Chinese pair took the first set 15-10. The Russian forfeited the second set with the Chinese leading 9-5 due to a knee injury.

China, seeking a sixth consecutive Uber Cup title, will face Japan on Friday.

World number three Bang Soo-hyun gave South Korea an opening 11-5, 11-2 win over Japan's Hizako Mizui. But South Korean world best doubles of Chung Soo-hyung and Gil Young-ah dropped a set before bouncing back to beat Tomomi Matsuo and Kyoko Sasage 16- 17, 15-10, 15-3 .

The Indonesian crowds who gave their support to the Japanese could not help second singles Kim Ji-hyun from outclassing Takako Ida 11-5, 11-4 to assure the first seeded team a 3-0 beach head.

South Korea displayed its superiority against Japan, Uber Cup champions in the 1970s, by winning their two matches. Second best doubles of Shim Eun Jung and Jang Hye Ock worked hard in the first set but were unchallenged in the second to beat Tokiko Hirota and Senobu Sasaku 15-12, 15-2. Ra Kyun Min wrapped up South Korea's excellent start with a 11-3, 11-1 victory over Tasuko Mizui. (bas/amd)