Indonesian shuttlers to meet Japan in world junior c'ships

Indonesian shuttlers to meet Japan in world junior c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Second seed Indonesia will face Japan in the
World Junior Badminton Championships for the Bimantara Cup in
Guangzhou, China, on Saturday.

Other quarterfinals matches will feature fourth seed Germany
against Chinese Taipei, third seed South Korea against underdog
Thailand and top seed China against England.

Indonesia defeated the Netherlands 5-0 and New Zealand 5-0 on
Friday while Japan easily beat Canada 5-0 but had to work hard to
eliminate Singapore 3-2 also on Friday.

Indonesia team manager Yacob Rusdianto said in a telephone
interview on Saturday that he expected his players to perform
well.

"We aim to reach the top four spots, therefore we must be able
to beat Japan tomorrow."

Host China, the title favorite for the inaugural team event of
the championships, was too strong for Macau as it crushed its
opponent with straight set wins, as they had on Friday night over
Italy in its other Group match.

"Group matches are quite easy because the opponents are not on
the same level as us," said Chinese coach Chen Xingdong, as
quoted by www.sportasia.com.

"The real campaign has yet to start."

Thailand unexpectedly upset badminton powerhouse Denmark 4-1
on Friday. It continued its path to the quarters by whitewashing
the Czech Republic 5-0 on Saturday.

South Korea also had convincing victories on Friday by
eliminating Sweden 5-0 and crushing France 5-0.

Third seed Germany also had a smooth way to the quarters by
overwhelming Russia 5-0 and Hong Kong 5-0. Its next opponent,
Taipei, had to lose a match to India before winning 4-1 but
easily defeated South Africa 5-0.

The fourth edition of the biennial championships, which
features an experimental five-set, first-to-seven-points scoring
system, runs through Nov. 12 with five individual events starting
on Tuesday. (yan)