Thomas Cup Preliminary Round: China surges into quarter-final to meet Thailand – Badminton news
Chinese shuttlers proved their supremacy over Chinese Taipei opponents with a 5-0 margin in the last Group-A match and advanced into the quarter-final where they will meet Thai shuttlers who could not live up to the expectations and lost to Japan in their Group-C clash with a difference of 1-4.
China always dominates the world when it comes to competing in a team-event tournament because their squad has more strength and depth as compared to any other badminton nation in the world.
All Chinese shuttlers showed their supremacy over their Taipei rivals as they did not lost even a singles set in all five matches and marched into quarter-final stage of the event.
China’s all three Men’s Singles shuttlers including Chen Long, Du Pengyu and Wang Zhengming took their fights in straight games.
The Men’s Doubles players from China including Xiaolong Liu – Zihan Qiu and Chai Biao – Zhang Nan also bagged their matches in straight sets without facing any considerable problem from their rivals.
On the other hand, in Group C, Thailand failed to play well against Japan and lost the match with a margin of 1-4.
Thai shuttlers managed to win only one fight which came in Men’s Doubles category where Sudket Prapakamol and Songphon Anugritayawon managed to win against Japanese rivals in three games.
Sompol Kukasemkij, the head coach of Thailand, said that Thai shuttlers cannot beat the Chinese opponents as they do not have much depth in their squad.
However, he is optimistic that Thailand can qualify in the Thomas Cup Finals by playing well in the playoff for the fifth place in the qualifying round.
He said, "It is going to be very difficult to beat China to reach the semis. The playoff is our best chance to qualify. We need to play three matches in the round robin but we will have a fighting chance to go through."
China has already qualified for the Thomas Cup Finals, as it is the hosting country. It means that five teams including China will qualify for the preliminary round. Considering this, four semi-finalists and one country from the playoff will make a cut for the Finals.
Tags: