Japan shock mighty China in semi-final of Thomas Cup
The legendary lin Dan of China was supposed to play the fifth match of his team's quarter-final Thomas Cup match against Japan. The Chinese think tank couldn't have imagined that his chance wouldn't come.As in what was the biggest surprise of the tournament, Japan defeated favourites China 3-0 to enter the final of the tournament.
Clearly, lin Dan and his side wouldn't have imagined Japan's Kento Momota leading 18-12 against world No. 6 Du Pengyu in the third game of the third match. Clearly, to the Chinese astonishment, he was pinching above his weight. This, after a 2-0 lead cushion given to him by teammates Kenichi Tago and the doubles pair of Kenichi Hayakawa-Hiroyuki Endo, who defeated Chen long and Biao Chai-Wei Hong, respectively.
And, when Momota won, jubilation was like never seen before.Earlier, world No 4 Tago packed off world No 2 long with a surprisingly easy 21-13, 21-11 victory. later, world No 3 pair of Hayakawa-Endo staved off a strong challenge from Chai-Hong to make it 2-0 with a 22-20, 21-19 win. Then, former world junior champion Momota had lost the first game, a close 25-23 but won next two games 21-18, 21-14, triggering big celebration.
"I lost the first game in a close contest. I found that Du Pengyu was very tired which motivated me. I was not tired. We are happy for the win. Our target was to beat China and then win the title as well. So, this win is something not unexpected as our target is to be the number one team in the world," Momota said via a translator, after the win.
China, who were aiming to become first team to win six titles at a stretch, had to settle for bronze.However, Chinese eves made amends for their counterparts' loss with a 3-0 mauling of Korea to march into the final.A visiting Japanese journalist pointed out that the win over China is not surprising for the new generation of his country's shuttlers as they had defeated Chinese players at the junior-level competitions.