Chinese girls sets up revenge final against Korea

World No.1 Wang Yihan needs no extra motivation as she seeks to avenge her loss in the 2010 Uber Cup final to Korea

Wuhan: No result in recent times has rankled the Chinese as much as the Uber Cup title loss in 2010 to Korea. China, which, until the last edition, had won an incredible six straight titles and eleven overall from 1984, lost unexpectedly to South Korea. The defeat was due to a Chinese team in transition, with its old guard spearheaded by Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang retiring, and many fresh faces inducted into the squad.

Since then, however, the fresh young faces have continued to dominate world badminton in much the same fashion as their predecessors. Wang Yihan, Wang Shixian, Wang Xin, and more recently, Li Xuerui, have swept most of the Superseries titles, while their doubles too has seen no serious competition.

As they sealed their place in the final by beating Thailand on Thursday, China must have already been licking their lips in anticipation at avenging a perceived slight to their pride. Korea, despite stuttering earlier in the tournament, managed to book their place in the final with a surprisingly easy 3-0 result over Japan. China, unlike many other countries, arrived at the Thomas and Uber Cup with a full-strength squad, and made no bones about wanting to get the Uber Cup back.

This, then, will be Korea’s big test – can they prove that the 2010 Uber Cup title was no fluke, no one-off? If they can play beyond themselves and achieve an improbably title victory against the Chinese on Saturday, they would have achieved one of the great upsets in world badminton.

On Thursday, China continued to decimate opposition on way to the final. It was Thailand’s turn to feel the heat. Their biggest prospect Ratchanok Intanon offered a little resistance to the world No.1, but Wang Yihan prevailed 21-18 21-15 in 49 minutes. Then Kunchala/ Duanganong were packed off by world No.1 pair Yu Yang/ Wang Xiaoli 21-16 21-12, before the sledgehammer blow came in the form of Wang Xin’s burial of former India Open Superseries champ Porntip B – 21-17 21-2. It’s rare in this scoring system for a player to score as little as two points in a game, but that is what unfolded on Thursday, and it was a reminder of China’s intentions of regaining the Uber Cup.

Earlier, Korea too got a 3-0 verdict, against Japan. World No.11 Sung Ji Hyun prevailed over No.15 Sayaka Sato 21-15 21-10; Kim Min Jung/ Ha Eun Jung were taken to the limit in a long match by Mizuki Fujii/ Reika Kakiiwa before winning 21-13 17-21 21-14. The match took nearly one-and-a-half hours, which is a rarity in the 21×3 scoring system. World No.13 Bae Youn Joo wrapped things up for Korea with a 21-15 21-17 result over No.24 Eriko Hirose.

China hasn’t lost a single match in the run-up to the final, but Korea were taken the distance by Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, coming from 1-2 down to make the semis. Can they repeat the stellar feat of the team of 2010?