Bangkok: The fired-up Japan men’s team has charged into the final of Thomas Cup final on Friday, beating defending champions Denmark 3-2 in the semi-final, as the 2014 Thomas Cup champion swept all the singles matches on Friday.
Kento Momota, redeemed his reputation from the illegal gambling suspension by defeating World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 21-17, 21-9.
Japan lost the first men’s doubles when Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda were beaten by Mathias Boe/Mads Conrad-Petersen 18-21, 15-21 in 46 minutes.
Kenta Nishimoto pulled Japan ahead with his 21-19, 21-12 victory against Hans-kristian Solberg Vittinghus before Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark levelled the tie 2-2.
Kanta Tsuneyama then played a masterstroke by meeting former World No. 2 Jan Jorgensen in the tie-deciding fifth match and the Japanese player did not disappoint as he delivered a 21-18, 21-11 win to seal the tie for Japan.
Japan will take on China in the final on Sunday.
In other Thomas Cup semi-final between China and Indonesia, the Rio Olympic men’s singles champion Chen Long got China off to a flying start, beating Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 22-20, 21-16 in the first men’s singles match.
Indonesia then levelled at 1-1 as the first men’s doubles pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo pull out an 12-21, 21-17, 21-15 win against reigning world champion Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan and setting off a torrent of emotion along the Indonesian sideline.
Nevertheless, Shi Yuqi was able to capture the second point for China by seeing off Jonatan Christie 18-21, 21-12, 21-15 before Chinese pair Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen finished the business against Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan 21-17, 18-21, 21-12.
