Kuala Lumpur, May 21: Two Asian giants, defending champion Indonesia and China cross swords today in the 21st edition of the Thomas Cup final, and the first for the new millennium.
The match has all the ingredients - power, skills, smashes, chops, net play and drops shots - for an explosive encounter.
Indonesia has an impressive record of 15 Thomas Cup finals of which they won 11 times.
Today, they move into the court for the 16th time against China who only made their debut in 1982 but went on to lift the title that year.
After losing in the 1984 final, China went on to score a hattrick of wins from 1986 to 1990.
There were fears that the final would be an anti-climax after hosts Malaysia's early exit.
However, considering how China and Indonesia played in the semifinals, a classic final is in store, of course with the Asian flavour.
The Indons will be seeking to lift the Thomas Cup for the fourth successive time, and their 12th in the history of the Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1949.
Indonesia have always maintained a strong grip on the silverware, having won the title on 11 occasions beginning with their maiden win in the 1958 finals.
As the reigning champions, Indonesia smashed their way into the final, atfer experiencing a hiccup in yesterday's tight encounter against Europeans challengers Denmark.
In contrast, China had it much easier. The actual degree of their strength has not been exposed, as they were never realy stretched by their opponents.
Indonesia have assembled one of the most balanced side in the competition with a strong line-up in the singles and doubles.
They have world No. 2 Hendrawan, two time All England finalist Taufik Hidayat and Brunei World Grand Prix finalist Marleve Mainaky to try and penetrate the Chinese wall comprising All-England and Swiss Open winner Xia Xuanze, Japan Open winner Ji Xinpeng and Malaysia Open winner Luo Yigang.
China can also rely on Asian champion Chen Hong and former world No. 1 Sun Jun as options in the third singles.
In the semifinals, Indonesia paraded their new doubles lineup Rexy Mainaky-Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto for the first time and they made a strong impression.
Indonesia won all the three group matches with 5-0 wins over Sweden and England.
They then gained a slight psychological edge over China with a 4-1 win in the last group match to go into the semifinal as the group winner but the Chinese did not flex their muscles.
Unlike their archrivals Indonesia, China had seemed to display an early chink in their armour when they dropped a game in the 4-1 opening victory over England.
However, China went on to defeat Sweden 5-0. They also chose not to reveal their strongest lineup against Indonesia and fell 1-4.
However, China have more sentimental reasons to wrest back the Thomas Cup title as this is their first appearance in the final since 1990.
China with Yang Yang, Xiang Guobao and Wu Wenkai, were then at their strongest when they won the Thomas Cup three times in a row from 1986-1990.
This time, they have an impressive cast of young singles players but it is the vast improvement of the Chinese doubles pairs that has evened out the odds for tomorrow's final.
China were said to be weak in the doubles but their young doubles pairs, Yu Jinhao-Chen Qiqiu and Zhang Wei-Zhang Jun did not give any indication of weakness in the doubles department.
The two Zhangs were the main reason for China's appearance in the final.
They provided the winning point in the semifinal against South Korea by upstaging world No. 3 Lee Dong-soo-Yoo Yong-sung.
Jinhao-Qiqiu had also come close to upsetting world champions Ha Tae-kwon-Kim Dong-moon.
China's chief coach Li Yongbo said that the performance of the doubles pairs has given them hope of overcoming Indonesia now.
"We only look like an inexperienced side. We are balanced as far as I see. However, the win over the South Koreans have lifted our confidence and team morale."
"I am confident our players will be up to the mark in the final."
