China’s men’s team on Sunday reclaimed the Thomas Cup title after a six-year gap hours after their women’s team won the Uber Cup with Indonesia finishing runners-up in both the competitions.
It was the first time since 2012 that the same nations have contested the men’s and women’s finals at badminton’s world team championships, and China prevailed on both occasions.
Twelve years after whitewashing South Korea in both events in Wuhan, China, the home teams were nearly as dominant against Indonesia at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium in Chengdu.
Photo: AP
In the men’s competition, world No. 2 Shi Yuqi beat Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-17, 21-6 in the opening rubber.
“I have a lot of responsibility and pressure as captain, but fortunately I made a good start,” Shi said.
Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang capitalized on that start to put China 2-0 ahead with a labored 21-18, 17-21, 21-17 win against Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the doubles.
For Indonesia, Jonatan Christie overcame Li Shifeng 21-16, 15-21, 21-17 to prevent a whitewash, but it merely delayed China’s march toward an 11th Thomas Cup title.
He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu combined in a 21-11, 21-15 win over Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana in the second doubles to seal China’s 3-1 victory before being mobbed by euphoric teammates.
China’s women’s team were even more dominant as they blanked Indonesia 3-0 to win their 16th Uber Cup title earlier in the day.
They strung together 24 straight wins, scoring no losses, throughout the tournament to run away with the title.
Olympic champion Chen Yufei tamed Gregoria Mariska 21-7, 21-16 to give China a head start.
Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan beat Siti Fadia and Ribka Sugiarto 21-11, 21-8 to extend their lead before He Bingjiao downed Ester Nurumi 10-21, 21-15, 21-17 to secure China’s title.
“During the last three years we experienced failures, and I’m happy that we could regain the title,” He said. “Last time it was a shame that we couldn’t win the Uber Cup, so over the last two years we were always ready, and we were playing at home.”
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