Korea, China win Asia junior badminton titles
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.