Indonesia and China to Compete for Thomas Cup Glory
The 2020 Thomas Cup is entering its final round. Two strong countries in badminton, Indonesia and China, will meet each other in the final which will be held in Aarhus, Denmark, on Sunday (17/10/2010) local time.
Both of them made it through to the final round after defeating their opponents in the semifinals on Saturday (16/10/2021). Indonesia, who is the top seed, halted the ambitions of host Denmark with a 3-1 victory. China also did the same with Japan with a score of 3-1.
Previously, Indonesia and China had met 5 times in the final round of the Thomas Cup with China winning 3 times. This final round, the 6th meeting of Indonesia and China at the final round of the Thomas Cup, will be more about the team’s mentality.
In singles, Indonesia has Anthony Sinisuka Ginting with the current ranking of #5 in the world. He will be accompanied by Jonatan Christie, ranked 7th, and Shesar Hiren Rustavito, ranked 19th. While in doubles, Indonesia is strengthened by Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, ranked 7th, and the impromptu pair Daniel Marthin/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
On the opposing side, China has Shi Yu Qi, ranked 10th, as the first singles player. He is accompanied by Li Shi Feng, 65th in the world, as the second singles player, and Weng Hong Yang, 148th. This composition will not change unless Shi Yu Qi is not yet fit following the injury he suffered when he lost to Kento Momota in the semifinals. He retired in the second game when he was 5-20 down after giving up in the first game 20-22. In men’s doubles, China relies on He Ji Ting/Zhou Hao Dong who is "only" ranked 1159th, and the impromptu pair Liu Cheng / Wang Yi Lyu.
Looking from the world rankings perspective, Indonesia is ahead of China in both singles and doubles. However, despite being lower in the rankings, the Chinese badminton players are known not to give up easily. This means that Indonesia needs to be vigilant as Indonesian representatives are quite often knocked down by athletes whose ranking is far below.
For both countries, the 2020 Thomas Cup has high prestige. For Indonesia, the trophy symbolizing the supremacy of the men's team has not been won for 19 years since 2002. Meanwhile, for China, victory in the final will add another to their Thomas Cup title collections to 11, closer to Indonesia’s collection of 13 Thomas Cup titles.
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