China crush Indonesia

Defending champions China trounced arch rivals Indonesia 5-0 to top Group A of the Sudirman Cup on Tuesday, declaring they are ready to face anyone in Thursday’s quarter-finals.

The Chinese have won the biennial tournament eight times and are chasing their fifth consecutive title.

After Tuesday’s matches, Chinese coach Li Yongbo said his team is ready to meet anyone in the quarter-finals.

“Anyone will do. It doesn’t matter. We are ready to face anyone,” the 50-year-old said. Former champions Indonesia, Denmark, Japan, South Korea, underdogs Taiwan and Thailand have also qualified for the quarter-finals with a last space left for either European champions Germany or hosts Malaysia. The two teams will play later Tuesday.

China and Indonesia earlier qualified for the quarter-finals by beating India 5-0 and 4-1 respectively in their group. The top two teams of each group move on to the quarter-finals. All group winners will be seeded when the draw for the quarter-finals takes place after the last matches on Tuesday.

AFP