China's Deer City hosts 2016 Thomas Cup
KUNSHAN, CHINA - The 2016 Thomas Cup Finals will be held in Kunshan or otherwise known as Deer City. After the surprising win by Japan in clinching their first ever Thomas cup, should we expect another storm this year?
This is a hectic year, apart from the grandest of all Thomas and Uber Team Championship, the Euro Cup and Rio 2016 Olympics are coming up soon.
To qualify for Rio Olympics, players for each nation had been contesting in various spots, even up till two weeks before Thomas Cup finals, they had to participate in the last qualifying games, which could be really trying for them both psychically or mentally.
As a result, each team had less than two weeks to prepare for Thomas Cup championship; it is not only a competition of their strength, strategy and line up, but they also have to compete in recovering and adjusting swift enough for this championship.
The powerhouse and title prospect are the conventional old faces like China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea and Denmark, but tougher fights are expected between these teams.
The prospect of Japanese team to retain the cup has been discounted due to losing two main players Kenichi Tago and Kento Momota for illegal betting.
The Malaysians have never been able to put up a strong squad for team championship, but has always been able to deliver outstanding results through sheer will and determination, the Malaysia team has always been unpredictable.
In the last championship, “Harimau Malaya” (Malaya Tiger) had put up a rather shoddy squad, but it had managed to defeat Korea, Denmark and Indonesia to qualify for the final, demonstrating one point: “determination is the key.”
When Malaysia brought Thomas Cup home in 1992, the overall strength of the team is not top notch, but the Malaysian upset China and Indonesia to clinch the title.
In 2002, under the herald of the late Indonesian coach Indra Gunawan, who boldly deployed fresh players, Malaysia nearly brought the cup home, only to be defeated by Indonesia in the finals after five games.
This time, the Malaysian team will be led by in-form Lee Chong Wei, and from the last championship Goh V Shem, Tan Wee Kiong, Chong Wei Feng, Tan Boon Heong and Goh Soon Huat will continue to play.
Even with the return of Koo Kien Keat, the mundane performance of Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong in the recent past, and Chong Wei Feng who has past his peak and will not be as strong as he was two years ago, are factors to discount the prospects.
There is a chance only if Lee Chong Wei could moralise the team by putting a good game, and the strategy in pairing up the men’s double, Malaysia can still take down the stronger team.
With world number one single men player Chen Long and “Super Grand Slam” holder Lin Dan, the host country vouches to reclaim the title. China has the most powerful men single players among the strong team but their double players remain inconsistent.
However, with Fu Hai Feng getting more experienced, Zhang Nan not having to cover both single and double, and the promising team up of millennials Lee Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen, China is still the hot title prospect.
Denmark and Korea is the strongest contender of title for China in this championship, after Japan’s success two years ago, Denmark is eagerly eying the title.
Denmark has three equally strong men single player Viktor Axelsen, Jan O Jorgensen Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, and with strong double players like Mads Pieler Kolding/Mads Conrad-Petersen and Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the line-up, Denmark is a definitely a formidable contender.
They will have better chance in getting their hands on the title after making it into the final in 2004 and 2006.
Korea has the most enviable line-up for men’s double: world number one Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong, world number four Kim Gi Jung, Kim Sa Rang and world number six Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol. If Soo Wan Ho and Lee Dong-Keun perform well, Korea will be hard to defeat.
Indonesia will be putting up fresh faces in this championship, young men single players Jonatan Christie, Anthony Ginting and Ihsan Maulana Mustofa have competed in Asian Team Championship, and three men doubles pair up Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan, Angga Pratama/Ricky Karanda Suwardi and Gideon Markus Fernaldi, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, are consistent and powerful, making them a possible difficult proposition.
In the opening day this Sunday (May 15), Malaysia is expected to face England in Group C. It is foreseeable the Malaysia team will put up its strongest team for their debut game, an outcome of 5 vs 0 should not be a problem.
Korea will face Germany in the same group. Top single Marc Zwieber might be a threat while playing against Son Wan-Ho, but Korea should be able to take down the first game easily.
In group A, China and Japan will face weak team Mexico and France, easy win is expected.
The match is expected to be tougher in Group B, Indonesia when faces the Hong Kong with strong single player should be cautious of an upset defeat.
The up and coming star Ng Ka Long coupled with two senior players Hu Yun and Wei Nan had put up some good shows. And their former top single Wong Wing Ki has shown comeback in his performance, all these players might pose threat to the younger Indonesia squad. A tough battle is foreseeable.
In the same group, India and Thailand are on equal footing, the dropout of HS Prannoy is indeed a surprise other Indian single players Ajay Jayaram, are excellents player from the second tier, and Thailand lead by Boonsak Poonsana and Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk should not be underated.
