A rampant China underlined their dominance of world badminton yesterday by pounding Indonesia 3-0 to emphatically win a fourth consecutive Thomas Cup title.
The victory cemented China’s reputation as a leviathan in the sport after their women were shocked by an unfancied South Korea on Saturday and boosted morale in the camp ahead of the Asian Games in November.
The Chinese men were hot favorites, boasting two of the world’s top three singles players, and they did not disappoint.
Temperamental talisman Lin Dan, who handed a demoralizing defeat to Malaysia’s world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei in Friday’s semi-final, led the charge with a stunning win — and then called for an upgrade to first class on the short flight home.
It ought not to have been so easy against Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat, also an Olympic and world gold medalist, and a player who can beat anyone on his day.
Lin, however, blasted his way to a 21-7 win in the first game, before securing the second 21-14.
“We both tried our best to win for our country,” Lin said. “We played out our responsibility to ourselves, to our country and to our supporters.”
Lin, who has been on top form in Kuala Lumpur, dismissed suggestions that he was a league above his opponents, saying: “Beating them is not that easy because I sweat a lot. Tonight we are going back to China and I’m very tired now, so hopefully tonight I can change from economy to first class.”
The world No. 8 pairing of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng then put China firmly in control of the final, beating the much-admired Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan in a three-game thriller.
Fu said after the hard-fought 25-23, 16-21, 21-12 win: “At the end of the first set it became a mental battle. We had to prepare really well to win this match.”
It was then for makeshift Indonesian No. 2 Simon Santoso to prevent a whitewash, but his best badminton of the tournament wasn’t enough and he lost a titanic struggle to world No. 3 Chen Jin 19-21, 21-17, 21-7, handing China the cup.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
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