THOMAS CUP 2014 QF – One more French upset, then the blowout

France was already daring to dream in the quarter-finals of the 2014 Thomas Cup when Brice Leverdez pulled off another upset before Japan brought it all crashing down.

By Don Hearn.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Team France has been playing way above their pay grade all week and for he first hour of quarter-finals afternoon at the Thomas Cup in New Delhi, it looked as though the fairy-tale might continue.  France’s top singles shuttler Brice Leverdez (pictured) did one better today.  After he and Lucas Corvee offed world #5 Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin in doubles on Monday, Brice took down world #4 Kenichi Tago in three games to give France an early lead over Japan.

Alas, Japan just had too much depth for the Europeans, though, and Sho Sasaki, Takeshi Kamura / Keigo Sonoda (pictured right), and Takuma Ueda each won in two quick games to put the east Asians back in the semi-finals.

China met Thailand in the other afternoon quarter-final and there, after two quick matches won by China, it was Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (pictured below) who looked like he could finally make the tie interesting as he built up a substantial lead and looked set to at least push Du Pengyu to three games.  Du soon found his rhythm, however, and China took its expected spot opposite the Japanese in the semis tomorrow.

Click here for complete Thursday results