The Thai women's badminton team edged Taiwan 3-2 late Wednesday night in a barn-burning finish to group play in the Uber Cup world badminton championships.
Quarter-final play begins Thursday morning at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.
Thailand, led by Ratchanok Intanon, fulfilled their dreams of an undefeated start entering the knockout stage. Before Wednesday, they had not lost a game, blanking Germany and Hong Kong by identical 5-0 scores.
The Taiwanese (officially called Chinese Taipei so China wouldn't protest) put up more of a struggle when the two teams met late Wednesday on Court 2.
Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying opened with an upset and surprisingly easy win over Ratchanok, 19-21, 21-8, 21-11. The Thais settled down and won three of the other four matches, including two-game victories in both doubles. Nitchaon Jindapol defeated Pai Yu Po to put the icing on the Thai victory cake.
The overall story, however, is that China and Japan have both showed strength as the Thomas and Uber Cup eliminations begin.
Uber Cup defending champions China emerged on top of Group D after beating Indonesia 3-2 in their final round-robin match Wednesday.
Chen Yufei, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan had put the Chinese ahead with victories in the singles and doubles ties when the Indonesians hit back.
Gregoria Mariska Tunjung edged Gao Fangjie 23-21, 21-16 to help her team stay alive in the contest.
But Indonesia’s hopes were snuffed out in the fourth match with Huang Dongping and Tang Jinhua defeating Della Destiara Haris and Rizki Amelia Pradipta 21-16, 21-16 to put the tie beyond the Indonesians’ reach.
However Ruselli Hartawan refused to bow out timidly and rallied from a game down to defeat Li Xuerui 15-21, 21-19, 21-18 in the fifth rubber.
The former Olympic champion Li has only recently returned to competitive action and her rustiness showed, enabling Hartawan to pick the second point for Indonesia.
In the other tie in the same group, Malaysia trounced France 5-0 to finish third behind Indonesia.
In Group A, Japan, led by world No.2 Akane Yamaguchi, routed India 5-0.
Yamaguchi overcame the tenacious Saina Nehwal in the opening singles 21-19, 9-21, 22-20, but none of the other Indian players were able to put up a similar resistance in the remaining four matches and they all lost in straight games.
Canada qualified for the quarter-finals as Group A runners-up after defeating Australia 4-1.
In the Thomas Cup action, where Thailand already had been eliminated, Japan defeated Taiwan 5-0 to claim the top spot in Group C.
Kento Momota edged Chou Tien Chen in a 21-12, 18-21, 21-16 thriller. Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda were also engaged in a high-intensity battle in the first doubles with Lee Jhe-Huei and Lee Yang, who were edged out 23-25, 21-19, 21-16.
“We tried to regain the advantage in the third game and pick up the pace, but our opponents found their rhythm, it was tough to defend,” said Lee Yang.
“We have similar styles. The pace was fast maybe that’s why we made so many errors.”
Wang Tzu Wei too narrowly faltered against Kenta Nishimoto, 21-18 21-17, and then the fight went out of Taiwan, with Wang Chi-Lin, Yang Po Han (doubles) and Yang Chih Chieh (singles) both falling in straight games to Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe and Kanta Tsuneyama respectively.
In the battle for third place, Hong Kong edged Germany 3-2.
Veteran Malaysian shuttler Lee Chong Wei enacted his revenge on world number one Viktor Axelsen by stunning the Dane in a two-game match in their final group encounter of the Thomas Cup.
Lee, 35, beat the 24-year-old star 21-9, 21-19 in 42 minutes in Bangkok, where the bi-annual badminton tournament is being held alongside the women's Uber Cup.
The Malaysian player, a former world number one who is now ranked seven in the twilight of his career, has lost to Axelsen in their past three encounters, most recently at the Dubai World Superseries Finals in December.
"I decided to be aggressive," Lee told the New Straits Times on Wednesday night, adding that beating Axelsen was "a matter of pride".
"It was a very important match and I was motivated. I have never lost to him in a team event before, and I wasn't ready to lose today," he added.
Meanwhile Indonesia edged South Korea to finish as Group B winners.
Firman Abdul Kholik won the decisive singles mach against Ha Young Woong 20-22, 21-15, 21-12 to seal the match for Indonesia.
The Indonesians won two doubles ties while Koreans Son Wan-Ho and Heo Kwang-Hee took both singles matches to send the match to the decisive fifth rubber.
CONSOLATION WIN
Thailand claimed third place after beating Canada 5-0 in their final Group B match.
The Thai men had already been eliminated after losing to Indonesia 4-1 — their second defeat in the group phase — on Tuesday night.
Khosit Phetpradab beat Jason Anthony Ho-Shue 21-15, 21-16 in the first singles, Nipitphon Phuangphuapet and Tanupat Viriyangkura beat Jonathan Bing Tsan and Ty Alexander Lindeman 21-13, 21-19 in the doubles and Suppanyu Avihingsanon beat Brian Yang 21-17, 21-17 to put the tie beyond Canada’s reach.
Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh then defeated Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura 21-17, 21-14 and Pannawit Thongnuam wrapped up the tie with a 21-12, 21-14 win over Antonio Li.