Heartbreak for Malaysia

Tokyo, 5 May: It was heartbreak for Malaysia as Denmark pulled off the last rubber of their semifinal tie to run into China for the Thomas Cup. China, meanwhile, thrashed Indonesia in their semifinal and look well set to take both the Thomas and Uber Cup.

Malaysia, who were reckoned to be the most potent threat to China during their run-up to the semis, missed the services of the injured Wong Choon Hann, and Denmark made that count as Joachim Persson won the fifth match against Kuan Beng Hong.

The hero of Denmark's win, was however Peter Gade, who scored a remarkable win over world No.2 Lee Chong Wei, who was looking almost unbeatable in the last few months. Gade's win took the wind out of Malaysia's sails, and they trailed right through.

Keat and Chan equalised the tie for Malaysia, beating Hansen and Eriksen 30-28 in the second and 21-6 in the third. Kenneth Jonassen then scored another big point, downing Hafiz Hashim in three tight games. Choong and Lee Wan Wah restored parity in the doubles, over Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, and it was finally down to the last match. Last year's ABC finalist Kuan was expected to win the tie for his country, but faltered against Persson.

Meanwhile, the biggest story in the other semifinal was Lin Dan's hammering of Taufik Hidayat. Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng escaped a tight first game against Alven and Luluk, and Bao Chunlai nailed home the last point over Sony DK.

For complete scores click here.