Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2007-06-13 From: Xinhuanet

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China’s Lin Dan returns the shuttlecock during his match against Andrew Smith of England at the Sudirman Cup World Team Badminton Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, June 12, 2007. Lin Dan beat Smith 21-19, 21-11.(Xinhua Photo/Zhang Chen)

GLASGOW, England, June 12 (Xinhua) — Titleholders China became the first team into the semifinals of the Sudirman Cup world team badminton championships after a second consecutive 5-0 victory over England on Tuesday.

The five-time winners, who whitewashed Thailand 5-0 in their opening day fixture, did not surrender even a single set after the first two Division one Group A ties.

As Malaysia beat Thailand 3-2 in the other Group A match, Malaysia and England both collected one win out of two while Thailand were left with two defeats.

Earlier in Group B matches, Asian powerhouse South Korea took a major stride towards the last four with their 4-1 victory over Chinese Hong Kong, making it two wins out of two.

“Our shuttlers played better games than the first day. We didn’t lose a singe set but usually you have weaker opponents in group stage,” Chinese team coach Li Yongbo told a press conference after the match.

“The real battle hasn’t started yet. We’ll wait and see what’ll happen in the semifinals,” he added.

Li tried a different lineup from the previous night but the Chinese seemed just unstoppable on the way to their sixth title.

Mixed doubles Zheng Bo and Gao Ling claimed the opening point 21-14, 21-16 against Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg while Andrew Smith gave men’s singles world number one Lin Dan a fright before going down 21-19, 21-11.

“Smith pressured me much in the first set,” Lin said afterwards,” but as long as I adapted to his game, I took control of the court.”

“The first set was quite good. He’s always difficult to play against, but I have played him a couple of times before and taken him to three sets,” Smith said.

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