Top ranked An Se-young and arch rival Wang Zhiyi respectively steered Korea and China in the final of the Uber Cup badminton championships in Horsens, Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Korea overcame a stiff resistance from Indonesia, the runners-up two years ago, 3-1 in their semi-finals. China seeking their 17th<\/sup> Uber Cup crown defeated Japan 3-0 in their semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will be a repeat of the 2022 Uber Cup finals, that Korea won 3-2. It will also be the ninth final to see the two teams battling it out for the coveted title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China won the previous encounters in 1988, 1990, 2002, 2004 and 2016 while the Korean were victorious in 1992, 2010 and 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first two matches in the final will be crucial for both sides in the final tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhiyi is one of the rare players to have beaten Se-young at the international arena over the last two years. Earlier this year, Zhiyi defeated Se-young for the prestigious All-England crown but lost to the Korean superstar at the Asian Championships, Indian Open and Malaysian Open earlier this year. Se-young holds a 19-5 career record against the second ranked Zhiyi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The battle between world number one Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning and the third ranked Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee is also expected to a close affair although the Chinese pair has beaten the Korean in all the previous three meetings this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the first two matches are shared between the two sides, the final tie is likely to go down the wire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the semi-finals, Se-young showed why she is the undisputed queen of badminton with an impressive 21-19, 21-15 win over Indonesian number one Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-19, 21-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Se-young breezed through the opening singles, Korea\u2019s world number doubles pairing of Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee made heavy weather of their match against Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 27th<\/sup> ranked Indonesian duo, who had beaten Ha-na-So-hee at the world championships last year, briefly threatened to repeat the feat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Ha-na, who had missed the quarter \u2013finals due to illness, and So-hee overcame a second game lapse to put Korea 2-0 up with a 88-minute 21-16, 19-21, 21-15 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On paper world number 19 Sim Yu-jin should have breezed pass her 63rd<\/sup> ranked Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan. But, the reality on court was the reverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 18-year-old Thalita showed maturity to stun an experienced opponent eight years her senior 21-19, 21-19 to pull the Indonesians back to 1-2 in the tie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite a spirited fight by the Indonesians in the second singles, the Korean scratch pair of Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong ensured their sixth final appearance defeating Rachel Allessya Rose-Febi Setianingrum 21-16, 21-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhiyi, who made her Uber Cup debut in 2020 as an 18-year-old but playing as the top singles for China for the first time was up against three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhiyi kept her winning streak over Yamaguchi, the world number three, that has stretched back to 2023 intact with a hard earned 21-23, 21-11, 21-16 win in the 73-minute first singles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n World number one Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning picked up their third successive win over Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto to put China 2-0 up. The Chinese duo upstaged the Japanese pair 21-18, 21-14 in 53-minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was looking to be a one-way traffic in the second singles as Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Chen Yufei was in uncompromising mood in her match against 19-year-old Tomoka Miyazaki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Miyazaki, the 2022 world junior champion, was completely outplayed in the first game and seemingly had buckled under the immense pressure. She played a composed game in the second but could not muster what was needed to rattle her opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yufei battled past the fighting Miyazaki 21-11, 22-20 in just under an hour and put China into yet another final, their 20th<\/sup> in the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SEMI-FINAL RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n China beat Japan 3-0 <\/strong>(Wang Zhiyi bt Akane Yamaguchi 21-23, 21-11, 21-16; Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning bt Yuki Fukushima Mayu Matsumoto 21-18, 21-14; Chen Yufei bt Tomoka Miyazaki 21-11, 22-20)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Korea beat Indonesia 3-1 <\/strong>(An Se-young bt Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-19, 21-5; Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee bt Febriana Dwiouji Kusuma-Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi 21-16, 19-21, 21-15; Sim Ju-yin lost to Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan 19-21, 19-21; Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong bt Rachel Allessya Rose-Febi Setianingrum 21-16, 21-18)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Top ranked An Se-young and arch rival Wang Zhiyi respectively steered Korea and China in the final of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-12532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-badminton"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t