by Andrew
(Malaysia)
In the Thomas Cup department, Denmark and South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan one of the few rivals to home nation China in badminton's prestigious Thomas and world team championships, began their campaigns with convincing wins in Wuhan on Sunday and Monday.
China men’s team led by four times World Champion and reigning Olympic Champion, Lin Dan seems to be too strong for everyone. He’s truly the man to beat and a hot favorite for the London Olympics 2012 in 2 months time.
There were some surprising your players, who show case their talent or maybe making a break through. Liew Daren from Malaysia is great example. This 24 years old young lad, who hailed from Kuala Lumpur has been struggling with his performance in the international scene has scored some big upset which kept the critics in silence.
Liew Daren manages to kept his cool, when Malaysia was trailing 0-2 against Denmark. After a shocking accident of Malaysia’s hero Dato Lee Chong Wei, which forced him to gave a walkover again Peter Gade.
Liew Daren displayed great maturity in his game by scoring an upset win against Jan O Jorgensen a much reputable player 21-15, 21-13, but the Danes were too strong in the doubles.
Malaysia eventually lost the tie 2-3 to Denmark but still qualified for the quarterfinals stage against China.
Malaysia's Thomas Cup hopes evaporated at the Wuhan Sports Complex Gymnasium after suffering a 0-3 defeat to host China in their quarterfinal encounter here today.
The loss, coming on the eve of a 20-year wait since last winning the Thomas Cup in 1992, exposed how shallow Malaysia's all-round strength, minus the injured Datuk Lee Chong Wei, was.
Liew Daren who was promoted to first singles in the absence of the injured Chong Wei gave a spirited display and even stole a game from four times world champion Lin Dan in the first match but eventually lost 21-17, 9-21, 5-21.
Host China field an all world top-10 line-up in their bid for a fifth consecutive title, a record only Indonesia achieved from 1994 to 2002 in the history of the Thomas Cup. And they achieved it by winning all the matches at these team championships without losing a single point.
It's also China's ninth Thomas Cup title.
"Indonesia have done it before, so we just reached their record. I hope we can win the title two years later so that a new record will be set," said Li Yongbo, head coach of the Chinese team.
South Korea, who defeated Denmark 3-1 in the semifinals, provided limited challenges for China.
Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion Lin Dan was too good for Lee Hyun Il, putting China 1-0 ahead with an easy 21-14, 21-17 victory.
Lin helped China clinch five Thomas Cup titles in the past eight years. After he won the new title, Lin increased the number of his world champion trophies to 16, an all-time record.
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