April 29th TheStar DEFENDING champions China paraded two-time world junior singles champion Chen Jin at second singles in their opening Group A tie against India at the Sendai Gymnasium yesterday. He was fielded ahead of two higher ranked players – Chen Hong and Bao Chunlai. And the 20-year-old gave a good account of himself in his Thomas Cup Finals debut match against Anup Sridhar, scoring a convincing 21-14, 21-10 win to give China an unassailable 3-0 lead. The lanky shuttler, who stands at 1.83m tall, admitted that it was quite a nervous experience even though he was up against a lesser player. “I won the match but I am not that satisfied with my performance. In fact, I was quite nervous in the first game. I felt much more confident in the second,” said Chen Jin. World number one Lin Dan was kept longer on court by Chetan Anand in the opening first singles match. He saved game point match at 18-20 in the second game but lost it at 21-23. But he prevailed in rubber games, wiining 21-11. He had won the first game at 21-8. China gave no indication on the inclusion of Xia Xuanze in the team to form a scratch doubles partnership with Zheng Bo. The fifth ranked singles player in the side was given a run out to play the third singles match. And the former world champion completed the 5-0 rout of India with 21-15, 21-10 win over Bhat Arvind. Top seeds China will play their final group match against Germany tomorrow before heading for Tokyo for the knockout stages scheduled for May 3-7.
