Korea, China win Asia junior badminton titles

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

South Korea took home the boys' team title while China romped to the girls' team crown in the 8th Asian Junior Badminton Championship, held at Senayan Indoor Stadium in Central Jakarta.

Asia's two powerhouses in the sport were expected to take the top honors, although the Korean boys caused a minor upset with their 3-1 win over China.

The Chinese girls proved too strong for Malaysia, winning 3-0 in the under-19 event.

Korea took a 1-0 lead when first singles Choi Sang Won overpowered Chen Tianyu 15-10, 15-8. They widened their lead to 2-0 after doubles pair Lee Yong Dae/Cho Gun Woo crushed Shen Ye/Zhang Wei 15-12, 15-11, but China pulled one back when Lu Qicheng defeated Han Ki Hoon 15-2, 15-10.

Korea sealed the victory in the best-of-five tie when its second doubles pair of Yi Goo Kwon and Wan Ho Shon fought off Li Tian/Hu Wen Qing 17-16, 15-12.

South Korea's head coach Lee Duk Choon said he was pleased his players could wrest the title from China, which only lost the boys' doubles to a Korean pair last year in taking six of the seven titles on offer.

"Our players are not really different than those from last year, but now they have more experience, which has made our team stronger."

In contrast, Chinese team manager Dai Ming said his boys were mostly inexperienced in international matchplay.

"We didn't set any target for our boys' players because it is the first time for them to play at the international level. Our goal is to give them experience."

In the girls' event, China showed it is a level above the opposition, including the surprise finalists, who upset South Korea in the last four.

Chinese first singles Wang Lin easily defeated Malaysian Norsyahliza Baharum 11-3, 11-5, and then went ahead 2-0 thanks to second singles Wang Yihan, who beat Julia Wong Pei Xian 11-7, 11- 7.

The third singles match was a see-saw thriller, with China's Tai Yi drubbing Lydia Cheah Li-Ya in the first game 11-0, but dropping the second 11-13.

In the decider, Tai Yi raced to a 9-1 lead, with the match and team title within her grasp, but Lydia clawed her way back to 9- 9.

With the tie hanging in the balance, the two teams' doubles pairs began warming up in anticipation of playing the fourth match.

But Lydia was exhausted by her fightback, hitting two errors to give the Chinese the match.

Individual events also started on Wednesday, featuring qualifying matches. The championship will end on Sunday.