Sunday, February 19, 2006

Malaysia win Asian Zone title

Dev S Sukumar

Jaipur, 19 February: China had better beware. Malaysia is going to be a handful at the Thomas Cup finals in Japan later this year.

In an engrossing Asian Zone final here on Sunday, a youthful Malaysian contingent pulled off a win over South Korea to affirm themselves as the hottest competitors to holders China.

Misbun Sidek, Malaysia’s most famous badminton name, is staking out the territory, and he has China in his sights. Even before the final started, Misbun let it be known that he was grooming three players – Hafiz Hashim, Lee Chong Wei and Kuan Beng Hong – in different styles to counter the current international trend of all-round play. “I think we have a good chance against China for the Thomas Cup,” he said with quiet confidence.

The evidence was out against Korea. Lee Chong Wei destroyed All England runner-up Lee Hyun Il, Hafiz Hashim played a magnificent match against Park Sung Hwan, and Kuan Beng Hong clinched the title for them after both Malaysian doubles teams faltered.

The match of the tournament was Hafiz against Park. Having seen the first doubles go to Korea, Hafiz treated the crowd to a spectacular exhibition of badminton; his peculiar flicks at the net and graceful movement around the court giving glimpses of the talent that won him an All England title.

Park, though, pulled off a tight first game, as got sluggish towards the end. It looked like an easy second game for the Korean.

But Hafiz somehow kept apace, his trickery at the net catching the Korean time and again. It was finally down to the third game, and Hafiz rocketed ahead 13-2 as the exhausted Korean made error after error. A 21-7 final game gave the Malaysians a 2-1 lead, after which the Koreans equalized in the second doubles. It was finally left to the explosive Kuan Beng Hong, who reached the final of the Asian Badminton Confederation championships in Hyderabad last September, to finish off things for the Malaysians.

Earlier, India fell to Indonesia for the third place playoff, but Indian No.2 Arvind Bhat created a sensation by nailing Simon Santoso in straight games.

Placings: Thomas Cup: 1-Malaysia 2-Korea 3-Indonesia 4-India
Uber Cup: 1-Korea 2-Chinese Taipei 3-Singapore 4-Hong Kong

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Anup fails to pull the plug

Dev S Sukumar

Jaipur, February 18: As Anup Sridhar stepped up to serve match point at 24-23, second game, the crowd held its breath. One point was all that he needed to nail Shong Seung Mo, the Olympic silver medallist, no less, in the third match of the Thomas Cup (Asian Zone) semifinal between India and Korea on Saturday.
And then Anup served high.

He'll probably be asked a hundred times why he chose that high serve when he knew Shon has one of the biggest smashes in the game. He'll probably ask that question of himself a thousand times. But it doesn't matter any more, because he served high, Shon smashed, went on to take the game, and destroyed the Indian national champion in the deciding game to see his country register a comfortable 3-0 verdict and enter the Asian Zone final.

Not that Anup's win might have made a big difference to the team's fortunes. India's best hope Chetan Anand, after his remarkable wins against the fancied Kendrick Lee (Singapore) and Ng Wei (Hong Kong) earlier, looked sluggish against Lee Hyun Il, the All England runner-up. He kept up the challenge briefly at the beginning of the match, but then succumbed to the Korean's big jump smashes.

The doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas, which pulled off a surprise win over Hong Kong on Friday, fell tamely to the superior firepower of Lee Jae Jin and Han Sung Hoon.

And then it was Anup's turn. Like Chetan, he had won both his matches leading up to the semifinal, and he matched Shon stroke for stroke by reducing the pace of the rally and not allowing the Korean to get in his big smashes. At 21-22, game point for Shon, a stroke of luck favoured the Indian -- a line call went his way -- and he went on to take the game.

The second was a thriller all the way. The Indian kept catching Shon with his deceptive flicks and half-smashes, and began to poke holes on the Korean's forehand side. He seemed to have sewn it up at 20-16, four match points.

But then he faltered, making two misjudgements at the baseline and serving high when he had to keep the shuttle low. Two more match points came and went, both on the high serve, and the Korean just about squeezed through the second game. The third was a washout, as Anup looked too disappointed to pose a challenge.

Indian Chief Coach Vimal Kumar could shake his head. "Anup couldn't serve low under pressure. He tried to hurry Shon at match point... we didn't expect to upset Korea, but it would have been good if we could've won a couple of matches."
Results:
S Korea bt India 3-0
(Lee Hyun Il bt Chetan Anand 21-13, 21-10; Lee Jae Jin/ Han Sung Hoon bt Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas 21-17, 21-12; Shon Seung Mo bt Anup Sridhar 22-24, 27-25, 21-10).

Friday, February 17, 2006

India enter finals; Indonesia survive Thailand scare

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