Denmark and Malaysia each qualified for the men’s quarter-finals at badminton‘s world team championships, the 2024 BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals held in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China, with 5-0 victories on Sunday (28 April).
Both teams, playing in Group D, had won their opening contests on Saturday by the same scorelines, ensuring that their head-to-head clash on Tuesday will be to determine seeding rather than advancement.
On paper, the Danes had the tougher test on Sunday as they came up against Hong Kong, China. There was almost an early shock as Olympic champion and world number one Viktor Axelsen had to dig deep to scrape past Lee Cheuk Yiuwinning a tough three-game contest 21-14,18-21, 21-19 in 62 minutes. However, the team match was secure as the reliable doubles pairing of Kim Astrup / Anders Skaarup Rasmussen as well as singles world number four Anders Antonsen both won in straight sets to take an unassailable lead.
Meanwhile, Lee Zi Jia helped Malaysia to a rout of Algeriaat 32nd the second-lowest-ranked side in this year’s Thomas Cup. In a rapid 26 minutes, he despatched Adel Hamek 21-8, 21-6 in the first singles to put a quick first point on the board. Teammate Cheam June Wei followed with an even faster 21-minute 21-9, 21-14 win over Youcef Sabri Intermediateand the tie was out of reach after the first doubles as the inexperienced Algerians struggled.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Momota Kento began his final international tournament with a win. The former world number one has announced his retirement from international badminton, with the Thomas Cup serving as his farewell.
Momota recorded a 21-9, 21-3 win over Dominik Koprivaalthough the team match was already out of reach. With Naraoka Kodai rested, Nishimoto Kenta took the opening singles rubber for Japan and was nearly upset, needing 73 minutes to overcome Jan Louda 19-21, 22-20, 21-13. However, after Louda’s early resistance, the rest of the Czech team were unable to repeat the feat as Japan cruised to a 5-0 win.
Meanwhile hosts Chinaagain leaving out Olympic champion Chen Yufei in the Uber Cup, recorded 5-0 wins in both the men’s and women’s events for the second day running. Canada were the unlucky recipients of both 5-0 defeats.
And world champion An Seyoung got her first action in this year’s Uber Cup after being rested for Republic of Korea yesterday. An beat Beiwen Zhang 21-11, 21-16 as the Koreans defeated USA 5-0.
The Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2024 are available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices (territorial restrictions may apply).
2024-04-28 13:22:00
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