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Journalism of Courage
India maintained their winning streak in the Sudirman Cup as they completely dominated New Zealand in a group B division three encounter here, to win 5-0.
Coming off a 4-1 victory against Finland, the Indians continued their good work today. Anup Sridhar, who was the only player without a victory against Finland, made amends today, getting better of John Moody.
The mixed doubles pair of Aparna Balan and V Diju went past Daniel Shirley and Renee Flavell 21-14, 21-18.
Saina Nehwal carved out a 21-13, 21-12 win over Michelle Chan in just 25 minutes in the women’s singles tie. Sridhar had an easy encounter against Moody, winning 21-7, 21-13.
The men’s doubles combination of Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave bounced back in style after losing the first game to win 17-21, 21-15, 21-16 against Chan and Moody.
In women’s doubles tie, Saina and Balan managed a 21-18,16-21, 21-14 win against Rachel Hindley and Renee Flavell.
India have won both their matches so far and will play Scotland in their last Group tie tomorrow to decide the group topper who will then play a promotion play-off against winner of Group A in division three.
In the top flight of the tournament, China routed England 5-0 to take control of Group A.
As in Monday’s victory over Thailand, the defending champions did not lose a game and remained on course for a semi-final against the Group B runners-up, likely Indonesia, who beat Denmark 4-1 yesterday.
South Korea virtually assured themselves of a place in the semi-finals with a 4-1 victory over Hong Kong in Group B, while in Group A, Malaysia beat Thailand 3-2.
Zheng Bo and Gao Ling took 37 minutes to beat World Championships runners-up Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg 21-14, 21-16 and start China’s domination of England.
Lin Dan followed with a 21-19, 21-11 victory over Andrew Smith, and Zhang Ning assured China of victory with a 21-9, 21-15 win over Tracey Hallam. China coach Li Yongbo said: “There is still another game on Thursday to play and we are just waiting for that before looking to the semi-finals.”
In the other Group B tie, Lee Chong Wei won for the second time in as many days and Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui won the women’s doubles to clinch Malaysia’s victory over Thailand, moving the side into second place.
