Japan outlasts Denmark in thriller at Sudirman Cup

KUALA LUMPUR - Japan outgunned Denmark to top Gruop D after a nail-biting final group match at the 13th Sudirman Cup team badminton championships on Tuesday, while China overpowered Indonesia 5-0.

The Japan-Denmark tie see-sawed with Denmark taking the lead after the first and third matches, only for Japan to equalize. After Denmark's mixed doubles pair of Joachim Fischer Nielsen/ Christinna Pedersen had given them a 1-0 lead by beating Hirokatsu Hashimoto/Miyuki Maeda, recent India Open runner-up Kenichi Tago played a superlative match to beat Jan Jorgensen to help Japan to 1-1. Both Jorgensen and Tago saved three match points each before the Japanese won the men's singles encounter 13-21, 21-19, 27-25.

Carsten Mogensen/Mathias Boe propelled Denmark to a 2-1 lead, defeating Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa 21-12, 16-21, 21-16 in men's doubles, but Sayaka Takahashi pushed the tie to the fifth set by beating Line Kjaersfeldt 21-18, 21-15 in women's singles.

Finally, Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi sealed the win for Japan with a 22-20, 21-16 result over Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl in women's doubles.

Indonesia were able to stretch China in the first two matches, but the eight-time champions survived both tests and then shut out their challengers in straight games in the remaining three sets.

Hendra Setiawan/Angga Pratama took the first game off Olympic champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, but Cai and Fu rebounded 16-21, 21-15 and 21-15 in men's doubles.

Similarly, Aprilia Yuswandari fancied a stunning upset as she grabbed the opening game from Olympic champion Li Xuerui in women's singles. Li stormed back, winning the second game 21-4 and sealing the match 13-21, 21-4, 21-11. World No 2 Chen Long then beat Tommy Sugiarto 21-17, 21-11 in men's singles.

In the remaining matches, Yu Yang/Wang Xiaoli cruised past Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishinda Maheswari 21-10, 21-13 in women's doubles, and Xu Chen/Ma Jin wrapped things up for China with a 21-13, 21-7 verdict over Muhammad Rijal/Debby Susanto in mixed doubles.

In Tuesday's other two matches, South Korea swept Thailand 5-0 while host Malaysia lost to Germany 2-3 and failed to make into the quarterfinals.