In dramatic fashion Denmark managed to beat Malaysia in Friday’s last semi-final at the prestigious Thomas Cup tournament in Japan. The victory was secured after five intense matches – three singles and two doubles – with the overall score-line of 3-2 in Denmark’s favor.
After haven gotten off to a great start through Peter Gade’s win over Lee Chong Wey in the first singles match, Denmark was pulled back by Malaysia’s doubles team who beat Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard. Denmark took the lead again when Kenneth Jonassen made it 2-1 by defeating Muhd Hafiz Hashim in the second singles match of the semi-final.
But when Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen lost their double it all came down to the fifth and final singles match between Joachim Persson and Kuan Beng Hong. Persson won the first set in superior fashion with the score-line 21-12. In the second set, the Dane got close to letting his Malaysian opponent back in the game but eventually ended up winning the set 21-19, which gave Denmark an overall victory of 3-2.
In the final on Sunday the Danish national badminton team will face the defending world champions China, who defeated Indonesia 3-0 in their semi-final. The match will be Denmark’s eighth appearance in a Thomas Cup final.
