China’s young guns give Xuanze reason to believe they are title contenders
PETALING JAYA: The in-depth strength possessed by defending champions China is very intimidating indeed.
Like Malaysia, they also pride themselves in having a young squad at the Sudirman Cup in Vantaa, Finland with a majority of their members being born after 1995.
And still they were too hot to handle as they steamrolled India 5-0 yesterday for their second win in Group A to become the first side to qualify for the knockout stage.
China who are in Vantaa without world champions Chen Long, Li Junhui-liu Yuchen and Zheng Siwei-huang Yaqiong, had earlier defeated Finland 5-0.
Against ninth seeds India, China made a total change to their line-up that played Finland but it did stop the team led by their next generation of stars – Shi Yuqi and Chen Yufei – from winning comfortably.
The 11-time champions have now fielded 16 out of their 20-member roster in two matches.
To be fair, India the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games mixed team gold medallists had been severely affected by the absence of their key players like P. V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-chirag Shetty.
China’s supremo Xia Xuanze told the Chinese media prior to the tournament that they are aiming nothing less than the title.
“Although we’re the defending champions, we still face strong challenges from our competitors,” said Xuanze.
“The Japanese team did not play well at the Tokyo Olympics so I believe they will go all out this time.
“The Indonesian team sent a strong squad but our youngsters can take them on. Our goal is to win.”
The main concern for Xuanze is to keep his entire squad free from injury for the tournament.
That’s because his charges travelled to Finland almost immediately after they have competed in the National Games in Shaanxi.
“Obviously the schedule is a challenge for us but our young players should be able to overcome it. We must pay extra attention on the need to keep them injury free.”