China defeat Indonesia to win Sudirman Cup

Beijing:

China defeated Indonesia three matches to love in Beijing on Sunday to win the country's fifth Sudirman Cup badminton title. The victory was a fitting end to week that was dominated by the hosts who didn't lose a match during the tournament en route to easily retaining the title. China lost to South Korea two years ago at the last Sudirman Cup in Dutch city of Eindhoven.

Clinching the advantage Facing Indonesia, China's two-time Olympic champion duo of Gao Ling and Zhang Jun were taken the distance by Indonesia's Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto. But they took the advantage in the third and deciding match when Gao's drop-shot ended a brilliant rally to take back serve and set up match point. Gao did the honours at match point, finessing another drop shot for victory 12-15, 15-5, 15-8 and giving China a one-nil lead in the best-of-five final. Indonesia then pinned their hopes on Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat in the men's singles match, but world number one Lin Dan had other ideas, winning a tight opening game 17-15 with this smash after a rally. Extending lead In the second game, Lin went for finesse with this flick at the net to extend his lead over Taufik to 13-9. The Chinese champion then completed the sweep when he got Taufik to knock a return into the net, and had China leading 2-0 after the straight games win for Lin Dan 17-15, 15-9. Indonesia's last hope rested with youngster Fransisca Ratnasari, who after losing the first game in just 11 minutes to world and Olympic champion Zhang Ning, briefly took a 6-5 lead in the second game. Brief edge But it would be a brief advantage, as Zhang's talent soon took over, smashing home the winner to take a 7-6 lead. Then serving at championship point, Zhang Ning held serve and won the point to clinch the Sudirman Cup title for China as the celebration began. The Chinese never lost a match during the week-long tournament, as the world's top badminton power while regaining the title China lost two years ago to South Korea at the last Sudirman Cup in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The 10th edition of the Sudirman Cup will be held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2007. (AP)