Koki Watanabe
Japan dethroned China at the Badminton Asia Team Championships right in front of a partisan home crowd at the Qingdao Conson Gymnasium.
And the Japanese did in grand style, defeating China 3-0 to win first ever men’s team title. It also turned out to be a day to forget for the Chinese as they were also beaten 3-0 by Korea in the women’s final earlier in the day.
Japan last made the men’s team final in the inaugural tournament in 2016 but had lost to Indonesia. This time they were not to be denied.
Yushi Tanaka, who is coached by former Japanese stars Kento Momota and Sho Sasaki, gave Japan their opening point.
He defeated Hu Zhean 21-10, 21-18 in 48-minutes to avenge his loss to the Chinese player just over a year ago at the same venue. Playing in the Badminton Asia Mixed Team semi-final last year, it was He Zhean, who won to lead China to take the tie 3-2.
The first doubles was a much closer affair before Kakeru Kumagai-Hiroki Nishi took just over an hour to gun down He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu 21-17, 14-21, 21-15. The Chinese pair are only ranked 154 in the world compared to the Japanese duo, ranked 31. But the ranking belied the determined performance from Jiting-Xiangyu.
Down 0-2, the pressure was all on the Chinese squad and all of it fell on the shoulders of Zhu Xuanchen. He was up against the more experienced Koki Watanabe.
It was the first meeting between the duo but it had all the thrills befitting a deciding match.
Watanabe led 13-7 in the first game only to see Xuanchen clawing his way back to tie the game at 13-13. It was close all the way before the Chinese youngster took the game 24-22.
Watanabe held a slim lead thoroughout the second game to take it 24-17 to force the decider.
Despite a strong challenge from Xuanchen, especially in the closing stages, Watanabe took the math 22-24, 21-17, 21-18 after a 87-minute battle.
And with that Japan are the Asian men’s team champions.
FINAL RESULTS
Japan bt China 3-0 (Yushi Tanaka bt Hu Zhean 21-10, 21-18; Kakeru Kumagai-Hiroki Nishi bt He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu 21-17, 14-21, 21-15; Koki Watanabe bt Zhu Xuanchen 22-24, 21-17, 21-18
