China rode on the strength of the doubles players to beat Malaysia 3-1 in a friendly tie using the Thomas Cup format at Shenzen here yesterday. The Chinese proved that their doubles were no longer the chink in their armour when Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng turned the tables on national number one pair of Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, winning 15-9, 15-12. The win helped China to level the tie at 1-1 after world number seven Wong Choong Hann had earlier given Malaysia a great start when he outclassed world number one Chen Hong with a hard-fought 17-14, 15-10 win. China took a 2-1 lead through their youngster Bao Chunlai when the 20-year-old tamed Lee Chong Wei 15-9, 15-5. Then, their second doubles pair of Chen Qiqiu-Wang Wei delivered the winning point, beating the Malaysian scratch pair of Chang Kim Wai-Chew Choon Eng with a convincing 15-13, 15-7 win
Good job to the Chinese players. Cai/Fu played well to defeat an in-form pair of Lee/Choong. However WCH is showing he's back in elite form, avenging his loss from the earlier friendly against Chen. Pretty ironic that China's MD is their savior in this friendly matchup. Is Chen QQ/Wang Wei going to split from their current partners (Zhang J and Cheng R) to form a new partnership or was this just a friendly on-the-spot pairing? Or are Chen QQ and Zhang J going to really retire from MD this time and focus on XD?
I wonder why they don't put Xia up against CH in the singles? It will be exciting to see these 2 rivals up each other.
Because it was a commercial game where each participant got $2,000, everyone wanted to earn that easy money. Xia is such a gentleman especially after World Championship that he shunned away. and Lin Dan just got $20,000 from China open, so he sacrificed this opportunity too.
Maybe you got the half-baked news. XIA XuanZe beated LEE Tsuen Seng (2-1) in the inessential fifth match.
Actually Xia did fight in the friendly, he was called up hours before the game. He's already back to his hometown, Hongzhou, thousands of miles away. He was called up and flew to Shen Zhen for the game. He beat Lee TS in the 5th match. So finally China vs Malaysia 4:1 SmartCivet, you are right, it is Cheng Rui instead of Chen Qiqiu. Thanks for the correction
My source told that Xia is not ready to play against Wong CH during the friendly. Anyway China team want their best men single's which is Chen Hong to up against Wong CH that time.