Denmark be Happy for Semi Berth at Thomas Cup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xinhuanet 2002-05-07 20:09:59 GUANGZHOU, South China, May 7 (Xinhuanet) -- With the absence of their leading star Peter Gade at the upcoming Thomas Cup World Team Badminton Championship to be kicked off on May 9, Denmark will be happy if they reach the semi-finals, Danish head coach said here on Tuesday. Sten Petersen, head coach of the team, said:"We will be satisfied if we enter the semi-finals, because our rivals, including defending champion Indonesia, host China, South Korea and Malaysia, are very tough." "Our team is not completed as our best player Gade is not here though Peter Rasmussen has come back," Petersen said. Gade, who has been plagued by a knee injury since this year, has pulled out of a series events while Rasmussen, former world champion at 1997 world championships in Glasgow, who made an impressive comeback at the European Championships finished last month by winning the men's single, may most likely play the third in singles. "Rasmussen is in a good shape but it is far from his peak form because he only returned training a few months. And our young players are lack of experience." Denmark will play South Korea on the opening day and then host China and Sweden in the heat matches to test their luck of advancing into the last four. "The Koreans have the best double players in the world. We haveto rely on victories through singles against them while we try to win one of the doubles from China." "For us the Thomas Cup is not our goal. Our chance of winning the Cup is very small. A place in the semi-finals will be a satisfactory to us," Petersen said.
