China first double Huang Sui (L) and Gao Ling (R) hit a return to Japan's Shizuka Yamamoto and Yamada Seiko during their Uber Cup 2004 semi final in Jakarta. It's the first time for China in 14 years that both their men's and women's teams romped into the tournaments' finals as their women had already qualified for the Uber Cup final with an effortless 3-0 victory over Japan. [Reuters]
China stayed on course for their first Thomas and Uber Cup double in 14 years on Friday, as their men's team romped into the final with a 3-0 blitz of South Korea.
The Chinese women's squad had already qualified for the Uber Cup final with an effortless 3-0 victory over Japan.
World No 1 Lin Dan came through a tough opening game to beat top South Korean Lee Hyun-il 15-11, 15-2 before Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, the world's No 2-ranked doubles pair, triumphed 15-13, 15-11 against Lee Dong-soo and Kim Dong-moon.
Left-hander Bao Chunlai, the world No 4, then battered Shon Seung-mo into submission 15-2, 15-5 with his trademark heavy smashes and pinpoint drops.
The men's top seeds, who are all unbeaten here, will face the winner of Friday's hotly anticipated second semi-final, Indonesia against Denmark, for the Thomas Cup on Sunday.
"It doesn't matter whether it's Indonesia or Denmark - we'll be ready to play them," said China head coach Li Yongbo.
"China has only won the Thomas Cup four times, which isn't much compared to Indonesia, but hopefully we can win it this time."
"If you look at the team performing you can see they believe they can win it," he added.
Elsewhere, South Korea's coach admitted his women's team have little chance of dislodging Uber Cup champions China and said it was a "miracle" his players had reached Saturday's final.
The South Koreans won a thrilling semi-final against Denmark late Thursday, thanks largely to the heroics of 18-year-old Lee Yun-Hwa, who delivered both a singles win and a deciding doubles victory after being picked to play twice at the last minute.
Lee later insisted she had not felt any pressure despite the big occasion.
But coach Kim Joong-Su did not give his team much chance against the mighty Chinese, hot favorites for a fourth consecutive title.
"We think we'll lose against China because (they) are very good," he said.
"It's kind of a miracle that we even got to this stage."
He said he was not sure whether the exhausted Lee would have the energy to play twice again after the marathon five-and-a-half-hour semi-final.
South Korea started as massive underdogs against red-hot China, who waltzed through to the final without a single player losing.
In contrast with South Korea's gruelling semis, China won with relative ease over Japan on Thursday. World No 1 and 2 singles players Gong Ruina and Zhang Ning, and second-ranked doubles pairing Gao Ling and Huang Sui delivered easy victories.
(China Daily May 15, 2004)
