12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

JAKARTA, May 11: Japan set up a nightmare quarterfinal with hot favourites China after dumping debutantes South Africa out of the Thomas Cup men's team badminton on Tuesday.

The Japanese took just 90 minutes to see off the African minnows with Shoji Sato, Sho Sasaki and Toru Matsumoto all winning in straight sets. South Africa's women also tumbled to their third straight defeat, 3-0 against the Netherlands, to end their participation in the concurrent Uber Cup.

The Japanese men will now face star-studded China, the top seeds, in the toughest tie of the quarterfinals. China have not dropped a point in their group matches and look odds-on favourite to wrest the Thomas Cup from Indonesia, the holders since 1994.

However, China's head coach Li Yongbo has said several teams were still in the chase for badminton's premier team prize. Wiaan Viljoen, 19, was the last South African man to fall 15-1, 15-2 to Toru Matsumoto as Japan won 3-0.

He said watching and playing against the world's top players had inspired him to train harder. Elsewhere home favourites Indonesia kept in the hunt for the Uber Cup with a 3-0 win over Germany.

In the other early Thomas Cup knock-out fixture, Thailand were battling England for a quarterfinal with fourth seeds South Korea. Meanwhile, Indonesia's coach insisted his men's badminton team were well capable of beating Malaysia after they thrashed New Zealand 3-0 on Tuesday to set up a crunch quarterfinal with their fierce local rivals.

Christian Hadinata said his team had the measure of Malaysia, to whom they have not lost since 1992, despite their lower seeding here.

Results

Thomas Cup (men)

Japan 3 South Africa 0

Indonesia 3 New Zealand 0

Thailand 3 England 1

Uber Cup (women)

Indonesia 3 Germany 0

Netherlands 3 South Africa 0. -Agencies