Invincible China clinched their sixth consecutive Uber Cup team championship yesterday, toppling Indonesia 3-0 to send an ominous warning ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
The result was widely expected, with the revitalized Indonesian women, a former world force, in their first final for 10 years.
But with the Indonesian men unexpectedly dumped from the Thomas Cup on Friday by South Korea, national expectations were high.
PHOTO: AFP
Such was the interest that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono turned up to watch the match, only to leave disappointed.
World No. 1 Xie Xingfang quickly hammered home the reality with an easy 21-8, 21-15 victory over Indonesia’s top player, Maria Kristin, keeping her cool in front of a full and deafening Bung Karno Sports Hall.
The world’s top doubles team, Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, had a point to prove after losing their match in the semi-finals and they got the better of Lilyana Natsir and Vita Marissa, but it was not easy.
PHOTO: AFP
Natsir and Marissa bounced back after losing the first set to take the second and pushed hard in the third. However, the Chinese pair’s experience eventually paid off at the crunch and they eventually won the nail-biter 21-15, 19-21, 21-16.
In an indication of who might win the race to be China’s third singles player at the Olympics after Xie and the injured Zhang Ning, Lu Lan was entrusted with the third rubber ahead of Zhu Lin.
She went on to justify her selection, thumping Adriyanti Firdasari 21-12, 21-10 to hand China their 11th Uber Cup crown in 13 attempts. best against Kristin.
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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