Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Denmark reach Sudirman Cup quarters
India had shown promising signs when Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto fought back from a game down to beat Indonesia's team. (AFP pic)
XIAMEN : Japan breezed through to the Sudirman Cup quarter-finals after crushing France 5-0 on Tuesday, while Group C rivals Malaysia advanced with a 4-1 win over Australia in the biennial mixed team competition.
Japan went ahead through mixed doubles pair Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara before Koki Watanabe and women's world number four Akane Yamaguchi won their singles matches to open up an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Searching for their first title after finishing runners-up three times, Japan went on to complete their second straight 5-0 victory thanks to their dominant doubles pairings.
Malaysia, also eyeing a first Sudirman crown, went 4-0 up through their mixed doubles, singles and men's doubles wins before Australian duo Gronya Somerville and Angela Yu got the better of Go Pei Kee and Carmen Ting in the women's doubles.
In the evening session, former champions Indonesia marched into the quarter-finals with a 4-1 win over India in Group D.
Having lost 4-1 to Denmark on Sunday, India showed promising signs when Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto fought back from a game down to beat Indonesia's Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 10-21 21-18 21-19.
But, Putri Kusuma Wardani won her singles match against former world number two PV Sindhu to level things up for Indonesia, and Jonatan Christie beat HS Prannoy as the 1989 champions rallied to a dominant victory.
In the other Group D match, Denmark routed England 5-0 thanks to Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund winning their mix doubles match before singles victories for Magnus Johannesen and Line Kjaersfeldt sent them into the last eight.
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