Kuala Lumpur, May 16: As expected, South Korea checked into the semifinals as the Blue Group winner after handing India a 4-1 beating in their last preliminary round encounter at the Putra Stadium Putra tonight.

South Korea will meet China in the semifinals now while title holders Indonesia clash with Denmark.

The South Koreans took it easy in their match against India tonight as they had already been assured of a place in the last four.

Having achieved their mission with 3-2 upset wins over Malaysia and Denmark earlier, the South Koreans were only left with the simple job of finishing India off.

With the defeat, India bowed out of the competition without a win after losing 0-5 to Denmark and 1-4 against Malaysia earlier.

However, they managed to take advantage of the relaxed attitude of the South Koreans to snatch the lead from the first singles.

Top Indian singles player Pullela Gopichand put up a spirited performance to hand Shon Seung-mo his third consecutive defeat with a 15-7, 15-7 score.

However, crack South Korean doubles pair Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung evened up the score by outsmashing Markose Bristow-Jaseel Ismail 15-0, 15-8 in 19 minutes.

India's Nikhil Kanetkar managed to stretch the in form Lee Hyun-II to 12-15 in the first game. However, he fell short in the next game and lost 15-5 to give South Korea 2-1 lead.

South Korea rested Ha Tae-kwon and third singles player Ahn Jae-chang was asked to partner Kim Dong-moon for the doubles tonight.

The pair was still as effective, beating India's Chetan Anand-Ratti Sachin 15-2, 15-8 in 27 minutes.

Park Tae-sang had no problem sealing the final point for South Korea when he defeated Sidharth Jain 15-12, 15-11.

South Korean team manager said the players were told to take it easy tonight.

"We were already preparing for the semifinal. We just wanted the players to have a good exercise."