By Dev S Sukumar/ badmintonmania.com
Jaipur, February 17: India booked a place in the Thomas Cup finals with a surprisingly one-sided result over Hong Kong at the Asian Zone preliminaries in Jaipur on Friday. The Indian women, however, were overwhelmed by Singapore, who dashed their hopes of qualifying.
Advantaged by a scoring system that places more accent on skill than on stamina, India again set the pace when Chetan Anand caught world no.10 Ng Wei off-guard with his gentle flicks and double-action tosses. Once the breach had been achieved, Hong Kong were always staving off the attack. They equalised in the second match, but Indian national champion Anup Sridhar again showed far too much variety for Yohan Hadikusuma in the third singles game. The Indian doubles team of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas then buried Hong Kong's challenge with yet another surprise result.
The new 21-point scoring system has been the topic of much debate, and IBF Deputy President Punch Gunalan even called a press conference on Friday to defend it.
But late on Friday, an unprecedented disaster seemed ready to unfold as Thailand led 2-0 against Indonesia. Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and bronze medallist Sony Dwi Kuncoro were both dumped in the singles, by Boonsak Ponsana and Poompat S respectively. Had Thailand clinched one more match, Indonesia would have been out of the Thomas Cup, and that too even without making the finals! Such a result would have led to an immediate debate on the scoring system, especially as Taufik has made his dislike for it public.
But Indonesia's doubles teams saved the day. Piloted by the crafty Christian Hadinata from the coaches' bench, Luluk Hadiyanto and Alvin Yulianto reduced the deficit to 1-2 and then Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan equalised at 2-2.
But the task was not done. It required the baby-faced Simon Santoso to hold his nerve against Peerasak W, which the youngster did quite easily, much to the relief of the Indonesian contingent, comprising of Hadinata, Rudy Hartono, Lius Pongoh, and other legends.
Indonesia thus topped Group B and will take on Group A toppers Malaysia in the semifinals of the Asian Zone. The other semis will pit Group C toppers India against Group D toppers Korea.
Indonesia's women, however, missed the bus by coming fourth in the group. Although they narrowly beat Chinese Taipei on Friday, they'd lost to Malaysia 2-3, while Chinese Taipei had beaten Malaysia 3-2.
Thomas Cup: India bt Hong Kong 3-2 (Chetan Anand bt Ng Wei 26-24, 21-19; Agus Hariyanto bt Arvind Bhat 21-12, 21-16; Anup Sridhar bt Yohan Hadikusuma 17-21, 21-18, 21-12; Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas bt Albertus Susanto / Wa Kwog Liu 11-21, 21-18, 21-10; Agus Hariyanto/ Yohan Hadikusuma bt V Diju/ Jaseel Ismail 21-15, 14-21, 21-17).
Indonesia bt Thailand 3-2: Boonsak Ponsana (Tha) bt Taufik Hidayat 22-20, 21-19; Poompat S (Tha) bt Sony Kuncoro 21-19, 13-21, 21-10; Luluk H/ Alven Y bt Sudket Prapakamol/ Patapol N 21-13, 21-19; Markis Kido/ Hendra Setiawan bt Songpol A/ Nitipong S 21-14, 21-15; Simon Santoso bt Peerasak W 21-13, 21-11)
Group A: 1-Malaysia 2-Iran 3-Pakistan 4-Nepal
Group B: 1-Indonesia 2-Thailand 3-Vietnam
Group C: 1-India 2-Hong Kong 3- Singapore
Group D: 1-Korea 2-Chinese Taipei 3-Sri Lanka
Uber Cup: Singapore bt India 5-0 (Li Li bt Aparna Popat 16-21, 21-13, 21-16; Xing Aiying bt Saina Nehwal 21-15, 19-21, 21-17; Jiang Yanmei bt Meenakshi 24-22, 21-8; Jiang Yanmei/ Li Yuija bt Jwala G/ Shruti K 21-12, 21-18; Xing Aiying/ Mulya Shinta bt Saina Nehwal/ Aparna Balan 21-14, 21-15)
Group Y: 1-Korea 2-Chinese Taipei 3-Malaysia 4-Indonesia 5-Iran
Group Z: 1-Hong Kong 2-Singapore 3-India 4-Thailand 5-Pakistan
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