THE Thomas Cup Finals go into the quarter-finals today and Denmark’s chief coach Steen Pedersen expects the top contenders to do some shuffling to their doubles line-up. “It’s interesting to figure out who Indonesia and South Korea will field in their line-ups tomorrow. I am certain that they will form scratch combinations,” said Pedersen. “But whatever their combinations, their players will be tough to beat. “Opponents are usually caught off guard when they come up against a scratch pair. Their rivals will not know their strength.” Indonesia will take on Malaysia while South Korea will play against Thailand. Pedersen said that Denmark might also reshuffle their doubles pairs for the quarter-final tie against Germany. “We have five doubles players and we may look at forming scratch combinations,” he said. The established doubles pairs in his team are world champions Jonas Rasmussen-Lars Paaske, Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen. The other player is Mathias Boe, who partnered Eriksen for Denmark’s opening tie in Group D against England last Friday. China may also have scratch combinations for their tie against Japan. On how far Denmark would go in the Finals, Pedersen said: “We will take one tie at a time. We do not want to treat Germany lightly. And we will certainly be eager to know the outcome of the tie between Malaysia and Indonesia.” The second seeded Danes are expected to cruise into a semi-final tie against the winners of the encounter between Malaysia and Indonesia. In the other half of the draw, China are tipped to play against South Korea in the semi-finals. TheStar
