ants
02-19-2006, 09:10 PM
TheStar 20th Feb
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia rode on the strength of the men’s singles shuttlers to emerge as the Thomas Cup Asian Zone champions after edging South Korea 3-2 in the final at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur, India yesterday.
The final went down the wire and last tie, the third singles, was the decider.
And Kuan Beng Hong did not disappoint when he became the team’s saviour for the second day in a row by clinching the winning point with a convincing 21-15, 21-12 win over South Korea’s fourth ranked shuttler Lee Cheol-ho.
The 23-year-old Beng Hong also won the winning point in the 3-2 victory over Indonesia in the semi-finals on Saturday.
In the tie against South Korea, the two other points were contributed by world number two Lee Chong Wei and Mohd Hafiz Hashim, who won in contrasting fashions.
After losing to Lee Hyun-il on two previous occasions at the Singapore and Indonesian Opens last year, the 24-year-old Chong Wei exacted sweet revenge with a convincing 21-10, 21-17 win over the world number five.
Hafiz bounced back from a first game setback to beat Park Sung-hwan 21-23, 23-21, 21-7.
While Malaysia showed superiority in the singles, South Korea continued to impress in the doubles when they won both the ties despite fielding scratch pairs.
Koreans split their world number eight pair of Jung Jae-sung-Lee Jae-jin but it did not dilute their doubles strength.
Jae-jin teamed up with Asian junior champion Han Sang-hoon to beat Malaysia’s top pair of Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat 21-23, 23-21, 21-7.
Jae-sung and his partner Lee Yong-dae proved too strong for Malaysia’s rising stars Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui. The Malaysian back-up shuttlers, who did well to reach the semi-finals of the All-England in January, went down fighting before losing 21-17, 13-21, 15-21.
Malaysia are one of the four teams who have booked a place for the Thomas Cup Finals, scheduled from April 28-May 7 in Japan. The others are South Korea, Indonesia and India.
Yesterday, Indonesia edged India 3-2 to finish third.
The South Korean women made up for their men’s disappointment when they whipped Taiwan 3-0 to emerge as the champions in the Uber Cup qualifying tournament yesterday.
Besides South Korea and Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong have also confirmed their tickets to the Finals. Yesterday, Singapore defeated Hong Kong 3-0 in the playoff for the third place.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia rode on the strength of the men’s singles shuttlers to emerge as the Thomas Cup Asian Zone champions after edging South Korea 3-2 in the final at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur, India yesterday.
The final went down the wire and last tie, the third singles, was the decider.
And Kuan Beng Hong did not disappoint when he became the team’s saviour for the second day in a row by clinching the winning point with a convincing 21-15, 21-12 win over South Korea’s fourth ranked shuttler Lee Cheol-ho.
The 23-year-old Beng Hong also won the winning point in the 3-2 victory over Indonesia in the semi-finals on Saturday.
In the tie against South Korea, the two other points were contributed by world number two Lee Chong Wei and Mohd Hafiz Hashim, who won in contrasting fashions.
After losing to Lee Hyun-il on two previous occasions at the Singapore and Indonesian Opens last year, the 24-year-old Chong Wei exacted sweet revenge with a convincing 21-10, 21-17 win over the world number five.
Hafiz bounced back from a first game setback to beat Park Sung-hwan 21-23, 23-21, 21-7.
While Malaysia showed superiority in the singles, South Korea continued to impress in the doubles when they won both the ties despite fielding scratch pairs.
Koreans split their world number eight pair of Jung Jae-sung-Lee Jae-jin but it did not dilute their doubles strength.
Jae-jin teamed up with Asian junior champion Han Sang-hoon to beat Malaysia’s top pair of Chan Chong Ming-Koo Kien Keat 21-23, 23-21, 21-7.
Jae-sung and his partner Lee Yong-dae proved too strong for Malaysia’s rising stars Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui. The Malaysian back-up shuttlers, who did well to reach the semi-finals of the All-England in January, went down fighting before losing 21-17, 13-21, 15-21.
Malaysia are one of the four teams who have booked a place for the Thomas Cup Finals, scheduled from April 28-May 7 in Japan. The others are South Korea, Indonesia and India.
Yesterday, Indonesia edged India 3-2 to finish third.
The South Korean women made up for their men’s disappointment when they whipped Taiwan 3-0 to emerge as the champions in the Uber Cup qualifying tournament yesterday.
Besides South Korea and Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong have also confirmed their tickets to the Finals. Yesterday, Singapore defeated Hong Kong 3-0 in the playoff for the third place.