INA-KOR (1-3), Chico Wardoyo put good start for INA team but then faltered unexpectedly including world number one Alfian/Ardianto, MD was supposed to be sure point for Indonesia instead of screwed up and pumped up KOR confidence. Rahayu/Ramadhanti who showed declining trend lately lost meekly to the ravamped combination Baek/Lee. JPN-THA (2-3), No huge surprise that Thailand topples second seed looking to Japan flop line-up especially singles players. CHN-MAS (3-2), MAS had to win MS, WD and MD to secure semis spot, the chance practically shrinked when Ong/Teo lost. There's a high possibility if CHN will place their trump card (XD) play earlier as first match rather than their now weeakest point MS in Sudirman Cup particularly against major opponents. IND-HKG (3-2), HKG smart tactic in order of play could shake and nearly shattered IND victory, credit to Kapila/Shetty, it's not easy job to turn the tables when their team trailed behind 0-2. The good omen for IND arrived when MD prevailed as HKG has no reliable players.
India was not expected to pass QF with this team! India's direct entry to Sudirman Cup also allowed Singapore to enter via rankings at the expense of Hong Kong. Indonesia, Malaysia, Taipei and Singapore get entry to Sudirman Cup via Ranking. India has to secure MS, WS and WD to topple China. On paper China are the favourites, expect India to show fighting spirit! India are finally taking the team matches seriously thanks to Thomas cup win.
Terrible reactive performance from HSP. 3-1 to China on cards. I would've fancied Treesa/Pullela's chances had IND scored both the singles points.
Im watching the EU champs as well, Cristo Popov held a MP VS Axelsen in G2 but lost and now too tired in G3
I think china may select Gso fengji in place of Hebingjiao if she enters top 16 of the rankings. She has some skills.
The much improved Han Yue, Wang zhiyi even Zhang yiman are all waiting for HBJ to falter and take her place PVS was rusty, most points she scored today were from grit determination, she really wanted to do well but her body just didn't oblige, you could tell. Nothing to take away GFJ but there was nothing extraordinary in her performance today to taunt the above mentioned players
If we watch these matches, we could say nobody is there to fill the shoes of Sindhu yet. Not even close.
On the other continent, France is closing in on Denmark as the top European badminton nation. Currently 2-2 in the final and French scratch pair Delrue/Lambert has won the first set in the deciding women’s double against Fruergaard/Thygesen. Earlier, Christo Popov had a match point against Viktor Axelsen, but lost in three sets. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What a match! India finally have a reliable WD pair. XD is still a huge question. Don't know when have any Indian WD player has beaten a Chinese pair. I can only remember Ashwini/Pradnya beating Ma Jin/ Tang Jinhua once.