China beats US in 1st round Thomas Cup

China beats US in 1st round of Thomas Cup

Chinese players were too strong to their US opponents in the first round of Thomas Cup finals with a 5-0 victory without even dropping a single set at the Bung Karno Badminton Hall in Jakarta on May 7.

With four Asian faces in its only five-member team, including men's double Olympic medallist Tony Gunawan from Indonesia, the United States remained unable to stop the Chinese young guns.

China, a hot favorite to clinch the men's world team title, grabbed their first point from world's number one Lin Dan, who beat Eric Go 15-0, 15-2 in the opening match.

Thomas Cup

China extended the lead after men's doubles Zheng Bo/Sang Yang defeated Tony Gunawan/Khan Bob Malaytong 15-5, 15-5.

US second singles Howard Bach was no match to world's number two Chen Hong and gave up 3-15, 3-15.

In the following two matches, Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng defeated KevinHan/Howard Bach in two tight sets 15-12, 15-13 and 2003 world champion Xia Xuanze beat Kevin Han 15-12, 15-1 to sweep over the best-of-five ties.

Source: Xinhua