TUC 2012 Day 3 – Raise the Red Lanterns

The 3^rd night of the Thomas and Uber Cups kicked off with matches between 2 badminton powerhouses, Indonesia and China. In a novel way to kick off the start of the tie, both the Chinese men’s and women’s team gathered together on a court to cheer and motivate each other during their ties.

By Kira Rin, Badzine Correspondent. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

First up was the match between 2 players living in the top 10, Indonesia’s Simon Santoso and China’s Lin Dan (photo). Super Dan stayed in full control during the whole match, with Simon resisting only a margin more in the second game. Lin Dan’s Olympic training clearly showed in his superb defense he showcased against Simon’s smashes and his famous jump smashes which hit like thunder from the heavens.

Just like Malaysia before them, Indonesia also took a gamble with scratch pairings. First up to face the famous pair of Cai Yun / Fu Haifeng was the brother pair of Markis Kido / Bona Septano. Even so, their synchronization as brothers wasn’t enough to overcome the giant hurdle of Fu/Cai and the Chinese finished each point in style, with thunderous smashing. Cai Yun added even more drama by winning the last point with a cunning net deception shot.

With Indonesia down by 2 matches, Tommy Surgiarto wasn’t one to sit by quietly. Against the Chinese dragon Chen Long (photo), Tommy fought tooth and nails for every point, betting his pride as an Indonesian shuttler on the line. Chen Long was able to raise his claws to chase down Tommy but it would be a long 51 minutes before he could put down the final shot of the second and last set.

Even with victory assured for Team China, scratch pair Hendra Setaiwan and Ryan Agung Saputra still had the pride in them to at least try and take a win off China. Hendra was able to bring out his superior speed that helped complement his usual partner’s Kido’s power, however the Chinese took out the weaker link, smashing hard at Ryan. Even so, the Indonesians were able to take at least one game off the pair of Shen Ye and Hong Wei.

In almost a repeat of the first match, Chen Jin took this chance to showcase his Olympic training, showing the same superior defensive coverage like his compatriot Lin Dan. Like before, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka could not sustain the pace of the rallies and committed too many unforced errors. Chen Jin was able to seal the match and wrap up the tie in a quick 34 minutes.

Raise the red, raise the white

On the other courts, China‘s Uber Cup team also got a 5-0 record against Indonesia’s Uber team, raising the red flag yet even further. Japan, too, raised their red sun flag with another 5-0 win over Russia while Chinese Taipei had a bit more trouble with a 3-2 win over Thailand but the win was enough to put the former second in the three-way tie in Group B, where the Taiwan women picked up two more matches than did the Netherlands.

It was Korea who had the luck of  the draw Tuesday evening, as they avoided China’s half in both the Thomas and Uber Cup knockout rounds.  Germany’s women and Malaysia’s men are the unfortunates who have to face the favourites in the quarter-finals.

Results:
China 5, Indonesia 0
Lin Dan bt Simon Santoso 21-10, 21-17
Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng bt Markis Kido/Bona Septano 21-14, 21-8
Chen Long bt Tommy Sugiarto 21-12, 21-16
Shen Ye/Hong Wei bt Hendra Setiawan/Ryan Agung Saputra 16-21, 21-10, 21-9
Chen Jin bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-7, 21-10