Japan beat Indonesia 3-1, face China in Sudirman final

Top-ranked Japan on Saturday edged out Indonesia 3-1 to seal its place in the final of the Sudirman Cup badminton tournament, eyeing a maiden title in the 30-year-old prestigious event.

Japan, who earlier made the final only once in 2015, will take on 10-time winners China in the summit clash on Sunday, Xinhua reported. In the opening men's doubles, top-ranked Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamulio drew first blood for Indonesia as they edged past world No. 2 Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 21-14, 21-18.

Japan restored parity in the women's singles with Akane Yamaguchi, the winner of 2019 Badminton Asia Championships, defeating 16th ranked Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-13, 21-13.

In the men's singles, world No. 1 Kento Momota downed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-17, 21-19 to help Japan take a 2-1 lead.

"Ginting is a great shuttler and tough to handle. During the last period of the match, I was more relaxed and took my chances to win," Momota said after his match.

In the women's doubles, 2016 Olympic champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara knocked out world No. 5 Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu 21-15, 21-17 to seal Japan's victory.

Enroute the final, Japan defeated Russia 3-2 and downed Thailand 4-1 in the group stage before eliminating Malaysia 3-0 in the quarterfinal.

Earlier on Saturday, China crushed Thailand 3-0 to advance to the final for the 13th time in a row.

--IANS

rkm/arm