Kuala Lumpur, May 20: Denmark have injected a breath of fresh air to the Uber Cup competition by becoming the first European team to qualify for the final in 16 years.

But in all honesty, their impressive run is likely to come to an end this afternoon as China, their opponents today, look too strong to be upstaged by the European outfit.

The last time the Chinese ever met an European team was in the 1984 Uber Cup final where they whitewashed the English women, winning by a score of 5-0.

China have since then maintained their stranglehold on the silverware.

The Chinese hegemony continued until 1994, when a badminton queen from Indonesia named Susi Susanti and her heir apparent Mia Audina took charge to help Indonesia win the title.

Two years later they denied the Chinese again. However, in 1998, China finally regained the title.

Now they are even stronger. China have set a star-studded lineup in both the singles and doubles.

All the shuttlers are currently ranked inside the top five in the world rankings.

Besides, they have also dominated most of the Grand Prix tournaments since last year.

It looks unlikely that the Danes will ever be able to find a loophole to breach the Great Wall.

They will be hard pressed to even stretch their opponents all the way.

Perhaps, world champion Camilla Martin could save the Danes from a heavy beating.

She looks to be the only player who could force the Chinese to concede a point.

Denmark's coach Kenneth Larssen has conceded that they have a minimal chance of upsetting the formidable Chinese women.

"I have told the girls not to worry too much. Just go out and play their normal game. They have exceeded expectations by reaching the final but China is just too big an opponent to take."

"The way they are playing, they can even field the second stringers and still be able to win."