Pedesen: Koreans have edge over hosts

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AS hosts, Indonesia are seen to have the advantage over South Korea in their Thomas Cup semi-finals encounter tonight. But Denmark chief coach Steen Pedesen begs to differ. He picks the Koreans to progress to the final for the first time in the history of the competition.

The Danes were ousted 2-3 by the Koreans in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Pedesen feels that the indifferent form of the top two Indonesian singles players, Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Taufik Hidayat, as seen in their previous matches, would prove to be the downfall of the hosts.

Both players were beaten in Indonesia's come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Thailand in a group match.

“Having taken on and lost to the Koreans, I would think that Indonesia will find it difficult to get points in the first and second singles,” said Pedesen yesterday.

“Park Sung-hwan and Lee Hyun-il are playing well in Jakarta and they definitely have the better form than their Indonesian opponents.

“I would put my money on South Korea to enter their first-ever final. Indonesia have good home crowd support but they will find it tough to break down the Koreans, who can also bank on their reliable doubles pairs.”

Against Denmark, Sung-hwan lost to Peter Gade-Christensen in an 80-minute struggle. Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen made it 2-0 for Denmark when they upset the in-form Jung Jae-sing-Lee Yong-dae.

But South Korea stormed back to win the next three matches through Hyun-il, Lee Jae-jin-Hwang Ji-man and Shon Seung-mo.

Indonesia made it to the semi-finals easily. They were too powerful for England, winning 3-0.

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