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Indonesia and China to decide group Champs, Do or die for Danes and hosts
16/05/2000 7:04:21 PM
Sportalasia

Kuala Lumpur, May 16: Thomas Cup title favourites Indonesia and China meet today in the last of their group matches.

Having already qualified for the semifinal, Indonesia have named their strongest line-up while China chose to rest ace player Xia Xuanze and elevated Ji Xinpeng to the first singles against H. Hendrawan.

China's reserve player Chen Hong comes into the picture today in the third singles against Marleve Mainaky, while Luo Yigang and Indonesia's teen sensation Taufik Hidayat play in the second singles.

There are no changes in the doubles line-up for both teams. In contrast, the Blue Group match between Malaysia and Denmark is set to be explosive as both teams are on a do or die mission.

The other semifinal slot in this group has been booked by South Korea.

The Malaysia-Denmark match is expected to go down to the wires, although the Malaysian camp has predicted a 4-1. A 3-2 win for either team looks to be the probable result.

The crucial tie here may rest on the third singles between Yong Hock Kin and an off form Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark, if the match is tied at 2-2. Malaysia are without the services of Roslin Hashim who sustained a muscle tear to in his right arm against India.

South Korea are playing to complete fixtures and neither a win or defeat to India will not affect their standing at the top of the group.

The England versus Sweden match will be nothing more than a battle for pride for the two european teams.


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