Hong Kong Ladies to Await The 29th Feb. Decision

Malaysia , Korea and Japan confirmed ‘double’ tickets to the Final Round of the Thomas and Uber Cup competitions in Jakarta at the close of the Asian Zone preliminary round in Ho Chi Minh City last night. They now join China and Indonesia , holders and host respectively as Asian representatives to both the men’s and ladies events at the 12-nation Cups series beginning 11 th May 2008.

With the five continental qualification rounds completed, the finalist to the Thomas Cup series have been confirmed while the 12 th team to the Uber Cup competition will only be officially confirmed at the end of this month. This is due to a new ruling by Badminton World Federation which allows for the combined top seven strongest teams of Europe and Asia to be represented at this foremost team championship in the sport.

With the top three in their respective preliminaries qualifying automatically, the 7 th team enroute Jakarta , will be the fourth-placed team in the Asian and European qualifiers which enjoys a higher international ranking on 29 th February 2008. The two on this list are Scotland and Hong Kong.

With the exception of the 12 th team, the Uber Cup nations that will see action in Jakarta in mid-May are China (holders), Indonesia (host), Japan , Korea , Malaysia (Asia), Denmark , Netherlands , Germany (Europe), United States (PanAm), South Africa (Africa) and New Zealand ( Oceania ). In the Thomas Cup series, the finalists are China as holders and Indonesia as host; Korea , Japan , Malaysia and Thailand from Asia; Denmark , England and Germany will provide European challenge; Africa will be represented by Nigeria while Canada will carry the Pan American hopes.

New Zealand from the Oceania region will complete the list. In Ho Chi Minh City last night, Malaysia edged out Korea for a 3-2 win and a place as champions in the preliminary while Japan took third place with a 3-1 win over Thailand . India beat Hong Kong for fifth place with China Taipei and Singapore sharing the 7 th /8 th places. In the Uber cup series, the Korean girls came out 3-1 winners over Japan to win the title with Malaysia taking the automatic third slot with a 3-0 score against Hong Kong. Singapore beat Thailand for 5 th place with India and China Taipei coming in 7 th & 8 th.

“The Ho Chi Minh preliminary was an unqualified success”, said Karen Koh, chief operating officer, Badminton Asia Confederation. “The standard of performance was high though China and Indonesia were not there. The reward of a place in the final of the foremost team championship in the world was incentive enough to bring out the best from players.”