The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Koreans blank Indian men

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 19, 2006

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Koreans blank Indian men

Rakesh Rao

JAIPUR: Anup Sridhar tossed away seven match-points and with it, a chance to defeat World No. 13 Shon Seung Mo before Korea completed a 3-0 sweep over India at a packed Sawai Man Singh Indoor Stadium on way to the final of the Thomas Cup competitions here on Saturday.

In Sunday's final, Korea will take on Malaysia, which humbled Indonesia 3-2 after winning all three singles. Indonesia now plays India for the third place.

Indian women sixth

Earlier, in the Uber Cup playoff, the Indian women took the sixth spot after losing 2-3 to Malaysia. Nine-time National champion Aparna Popat opted out of the tie citing a sprained back after having served the team's cause admirably over the last three days. Trupti Murgunde and Saina Nehwal twice put India ahead by winning their singles but that was not enough to stop Malaysia.

In the men's semifinals, after World No, 5 Lee Hyun Il needed just 26 minutes to stop Chetan Anand, and the Indian pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas were beaten in just 24 minutes, Anup had Shon Seung Mo on the ropes by holding four match points in the second game when leading 20-16. Undeterred, the gritty Korean took the game into extended points, saved three more match points to win 27-25. In the decider, Shon Seung Mo did not allow Sridhar to get any close and won at 10 to close the tie.

More interesting

The other semifinal was far more interesting with Malaysia stopping Indonesia. World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, who got married earlier this month and here with his wife, crashed to his second defeat in less than 24 hours when World number two Lee Chon Wei destroyed him in 28 minutes with a 21-13, 21-9 verdict. Indonesian legend Rudy Hartono was quick to point out that Hidayat had not trained hard for this event and was understandably struggling throughout this competition.

Thereafter, Indonesia twice equalised by winning the even-numbered doubles matches. In the deciding fifth rubber, World number 11 Kuan Beng Hong completed Malaysia's joy by beating Simon Santoso, ranked 42nd, in three games.

Since the seeding in the Thomas Cup finals in Tokyo, in May, will be based on the world ranking of the players in the squad, the placings here do not matter much to the teams.

The results:

Thomas Cup: Semifinals: Korea bt India 3-0 (Lee Hyun Il bt Chetan Anand 21-13, 21-10; Lee Jai In and Han Sang Hoon bt Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas 21-17, 21-12; Shon Seung Mo bt Anup Sridhar 22-24, 27-25, 21-10).

Malaysia bt Indonesia 3-2 (Lee Chon Wei bt Taufik Hidayat 21-13, 21-9; Chan Chong Ming and Koo Kien Keat lost to Luluk Hadiyanto and Alvent Yulianto 21-16, 14-21, 21-16; Hafiz Mohammad Hashim bt Dwi Sony Kuncoro 21-10, 21-9; Lin Woon Fui and Mohammad Tazari lost to Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan 21-17, 21-13; Kuan Beng Hong bt Simon Santoso 24-22, 14-21, 21-17).

Uber Cup: Semifinals: Chinese Taipei bt Hong Kong 3-1; Korea bt Singapore 3-1.

For fifth place: Malaysia bt India 3-2 (Wong Mew Choo lost to Trupti Murgunde 21-17, 21-19; Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui lost to G. Jwala and Shruti Kurian 21-17, 21-13; Wong Julia Pei Xian lost to Saina Nehwal 21-17, 21-10; Fong Chew Yen and Mooi Hing Yau bt B. R. Meenakshi and Aparna Balan 17-21, 21-12, 21-17; Baharum Norshaliza bt Krishna Dekaraja 22-20, 21-19.

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