Korea dominates Germany to march into quarter-finals of Thomas Cup 2012 – Badminton News
Korea continued its successful run in Thomas Cup Finals as they dictated Germany in group match and entered in quarter-finals as group winner on May 22, 2012.
This nerve-racking battle ended with a tight yet decisive margin of 3-2 and the winning contestant earned an easy draw in the knockout stage of the event.
Korea successfully avoided a clash with tough contenders like China and Denmark as now they will face Germany again in round of eight which means fair chances of a semi-final ticket.
Earlier in Group D match, this also served as a pre quarter-final contest, both teams strived hard to secure the honour and made this encounter memorable by taking it all the way to five games.
In opening game of match, the seasoned Men’s Singles shuttler Lee Hyun Il provided the required momentum by earning first match point for his team.
The Korean maestro thrashed Marc Zwiebler with 21-19 and 21-8. He was bit sluggish in the start which ultimately forced him to sweat hard for 39 minutes on the court.
Next encounter was between Men’s Doubles experts Ko Sung Hyun-Lee Yong Dae and Ingo Kindervater-Johannes Schoettler.
German pair showed strong character against experienced opponents and gave them tough time in final result of 20-22 in the first set.
In second set, the twosome of Sung Hyun and Yong Dae proved their class in improved manner and stole the limelight by registering 21-12 score on the board.
However, an upset was waiting in following game as relatively lower ranked Diete Domke ousted India Open champion Shon Wan Ho in an epic 51-minute tussle.
The German shuttler took a perfect start by clinching first set with 21-17 margin and then sealed the victory with 21-11 total in third set.
On the other hand, Wan Ho could grab only second set with favourable figure of 21-15.
This revised status aroused hopes that battle will get resolved in the fifth game but Korean Doubles partners Kim Sa Rang and Kim Ki Jung proved all predictions wrong and finished this race with concluding figures of 21-13 and 21-13.
In a dead rubber encounter, Men’s Singles campaigner Lukas Schmidt managed to end this match with respectable results of 3-2. He won last game with 21-17, 9-21 and 21-18 scores on the board.
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