The Chinese men crushed South Korea and next face Indonesia, who dismissed India in commanding fashion.

World and Olympic champion Lin Dan opened the tie for China's men with a 21-16, 21-15 victory over Park Sung-hwan, whom he had overcome by a much narrower margin in the group stage.

"We were both nervous yesterday and today we were more relaxed," Lin said. "I really wanted to win and not give him any chance. We both played better than yesterday, which was so tight."

The doubles pairing of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng proved to be in a different class to Jung Jae-sung and Shin Baek-cheol, winning 21-11, 21-16 before Chen Jin eased past Shon Wan-ho 21-15, 21-12 to end Korean hopes.

The Indonesian men romped to a 3-0 victory over India, with world No 5 and No 12 Taufik Hidayat and Simon Santoso winning their singles rubbers in front of vocal support from their travelling fans.

In extraordinary scenes in the women's Uber Cup, Malaysia's top shuttler, Wong Mew Choo, broke down at a post-match press conference after the hosts crashed out in straight sets to Indonesia.

Wong, who lost 9-21, 16-21 to Adriyanti Firdasari, threw herself to the ground in the press area before Badminton Association of Malaysia sports psychologist Frederick Tan came to console her.

"I am sorry, really sorry, that I was a big let down," said Wong, who was expected to win Malaysia's first point against the Indonesians after beating Adriyanti in the team final at the Laos Southeast Asian Games in December.

"It was a below par performance from me. I was rather tense. Nothing went right for me. Even when I fought back in the second set it was all in vain as my opponent controlled the match throughout."

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 05/13/2010 page24)