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The Chinese men’s team avoided a repeat of the fate that had befallen their women, by shutting out Japan 3-0 in the Thomas Cup Asian Zone preliminaries at Macau on Sunday. A day earlier, Japan had shocked China 3-2 after coming from 0-2 down.
Meanwhile, in the playoff for 5th to 8th places, India fought gamely but were outclassed by a superior Korean team. Although P Kashyap won the first singles for them, Korea won the next three matches to book a place to the Thomas Cup finals as the fifth team.
World No.3 Chen Long ensured a bright start for China with a straight sets win over Sho Sasaki. Japan might have nursed their chances in the doubles, but Chai Biao/ Guo Zhengdong shut them out in a 21-17 22-20 result, and Du Pengyu closed the tie with a 21-12 21-11 win over Kazushi Yamada.
The four Asian semifinalists, plus Korea, will join Denmark, Germany, England and Holland from the European zone and three more countries – one each from Oceania, Pan-America and Africa – for the Thomas Cup Finals in May. In the Uber Cup, Indonesia finished fifth by posting their third consecutive win.
Kashyap hasn’t been at his best during the Thomas Cup preliminaries, but he finally ensured a good start for India with a 21-18 21-17 win over veteran Lee Hyun Il. However, the rest of the Korean bench was too strong for India, with Lee Yong Dae/ Ko Sung Hyun outclassing Akshay Dewalkar/ Pranav Chopra 21-12 21-10, and Shon Wan Ho battling past Sourabh Verma in three games.
Verma provided stout resistance, overcoming a first game deficit by taking the second 21-19. The game was a humdinger, with points remaining neck-and-neck until 17-all. Verma shot ahead to 20-17 and took the game at 19.
The third game continued in the same vein and remained close until 19-all. Shon however managed to take the last two points and with it a 2-1 lead for Korea.
The Indian second doubles pair of Diju and Sanave Thomas were no match for Yoo Yeon Seong/ Baek Choel Shin as they capitulated 21-11 21-11. Hong Ji Hoon gave Sai Praneeth a walkover and India retuned with a 2-3 margin.
