A star-studded Chinese women’s team scored an easy 5-0 victory over Taiwan to top Group W in the Uber Cup badminton tournament on Wednesday.
World No. 1 and Olympic champion Li Xuerui took just 30 minutes to dispose of Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying 21-16, 21-12 in the opener as China continued their quest for an eighth title in nine tournaments.
World No. 2 Wang Shixian defeated Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hsin 21-8, 21-10 and world No. 3 Wang Yihan rallied to beat Pai Yu-po 18-21, 21-17, 21-11.
China remain the most feared team ahead of the quarter-final draw.
England joined China in the draw by finishing second in Group W after beating Russia 4-1.
Fontaine Mica Chapman easily won England’s opening singles against Natalia Perminova 21-13, 21-14, while Panuga Riou had a tougher 21-15, 25-23 victory over Anastasia Chervaykova. The doubles pair of Gabrielle Adcock and Lauren Smith ensured an unbeatable 3-1 lead.
“We knew we had a real hard group with China, Taiwan and Russia,” Riou said. “It’s a young group for us and obviously by beating Taiwan and now Russia we have exceeded our expectations.”
Riou said the team had prepared well, drawing on their experience of previous matches against Russia.
“Russia is a strong team, but we’ve played most of them on the European circuit. We knew we had a chance if we performed on the day and were able to push everyone around,” she said.
In other decisive matches, Japan defeated Denmark 4-1 in Group Z with both teams qualifying for the quarter-finals. Similarly, South Korea beat Indonesia 4-1 to top Group X with both teams advancing.
In Group Y, India were the top team and Thailand the second qualifiers.
In the Thomas Cup, Thai player Boonsak Ponsana took more than an hour to overcome Tommy Sugiarto 14-21, 21-13, 21-17, but Indonesia still prevailed 4-1 to top Group A ahead of Thailand.
World No.1 Lee Chong Wei led Malaysia to a 3-2 win over South Korea in the match between the top two teams in Group C.
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