Japan overpowered third seeds Korea to book their spot in the semifinals of the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships 2019 for the Suhandinata Cup in Kazan today.
Japan, seeded 9/16, were in command all through as they completed each of their three matches in half-an-hour or less.
Mixed doubles pair Kakeru Kumagai and Atsumi Miyazaki won the opening match for Japan.
Mixed doubles pair Kakeru Kumagai/Atsumi Miyazaki blew aside Jo Seong Min/Kim Yun Ju 21-11 21-15 in just 22 minutes. Riko Gunji made it 2-0 with a quick win over Seo Bo Hyun, and Riki Takei completed the task for Japan, beating Kim Byung Jae 21-16 21-16.
Japan will take on second seeds China in the semifinals, while in the top half, Indonesia face Thailand. The other three semifinalists too didn’t drop a match in their respective quarterfinals.
Magnus Johannesen lost his way against Liu Liang.
Denmark had a shot at winning the men’s singles, with Magnus Johannesen taking the opening game over Liu Liang, but the Chinese bounced back and stayed ahead to complete victory in an hour, 18-21 21-17 21-16, giving China a 2-0 lead. It soon became 3-0 with Zhou Meng routing Sophia Grundtvig in the women’s singles, 21-11 21-11.
Top seeds Indonesia were stretched by Hong Kong China but still managed a 3-0 score; next up for the Indonesians is Thailand, who were impressive in a demolition job of France.
Narrow Win for Chinese Taipei
Chinese Taipei scraped through to a 3-2 win over India to progress to a face-off against Malaysia for ninth place. India had earlier bounced back from 1-2 to take the tie to the fifth match, which was one of the most exciting on the day.
Manjit Singh and Dingku Singh nearly clinched it for India after winning the opening game and holding a narrow lead in the second over Chen Zhi Ray and Cheng Kai Wen in the men’s doubles. However, once the Chinese Taipei pair had wriggled out of the tight situation, they held a handy lead in the third to complete a 14-21 21-19 21-16 result.
Match of the Day
Perhaps the most exciting match of the day was USA’s Alexander Zheng’s comeback from three match points down to beat Scotland’s Callum Smith. The end of the match saw some tremendous rallies, with Zheng having to scamper around to keep his chances alive. Smith chose to play steady rather than attempt winners, and it was Zheng who was able to win the attack, earning a hard-fought result at 17-21 21-15 23-21.
The win gave USA a 2-1 lead, setting it up for the women’s doubles pair of Katelin Ngo and Esther Shi to clinch the tie in the fourth match. USA will face Czech Republic for 17th place.
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