China crush India, set up Sudirman semis with Japan

: Olympic and world champion Chen Long led China Friday in a crushing win over India to set up a semi-final showdown with Japan at the BWF Sudirman Cup in Australia’s Gold Coast.

China, the defending champions, cruised to a 3-0 win over India, while Japan mastered Malaysia 3-1 in the other quarter-final.

India have not won a medal at the Sudirman Cup, but Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa did create some problems for world No.2 duo Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong in the opening mixed doubles match before China prevailed 16-21, 21-13, 21-16. Rankireddy had the Chinese under pressure with his fierce smashes, giving Ponnappa the openings she needed to put away returns.

Lu and Huang struggled early to contain the Indians before they seized the initiative early in the second and maintained their lead. “We had a good chance, we had the confidence that we could pull it off,” said Ponnappa.

“They’re very experienced, while we’re just starting off as a pair. Satwik has to get used to pressure situations.”

World champion Chen Long had a 4-0 career record going into his singles match with Kidambi Srikanth and the quick-moving Chinese was invariably at the end of the flicks and halfsmashes that Kidambi created.

Chen went on to give China a 2-0 advantage 21-16, 21-17 in 48 minutes. “We have to be our best tomorrow,” Chen said. “The Japanese men’s singles players are quite young and have already got the opportunity to play at this level, so we have to be cautious.”