JAKARTA, May 13: South Korea fielded its strongest side to whip minnows Canada and storm into the Thomas Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday, a day after throwing its group games to win a more favourable draw.

The Korean tactics, which sparked controversy and forced the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to admit the rules needed changing, worked as planned to line up a knockout round match against Denmark.

Thailand, Japan, and England joined them in the last eight of the elite team championships, while the Netherlands, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Germany booked their places in the same phase of the women’s Uber Cup.

In contrast to their group games against England and Malaysia where they either left out their top singles players Park Sung-Hwan and Lee Hyun-Il or played them in doubles, it was a full-strength South Korea against Canada.

Park crushed Andrew Dabeka 21-11, 21-11 while Lee easily beat Bobby Milroy 21-15, 21-18, with doubles pairing Jung Jae-Sung/Lee Yong-Dae also winning to seal the match.

The Koreans admitted on Monday they plotted to finish their group last to avoid defending champions China until at least the final. It meant they played the elimination match against Canada to set up a clash with Denmark.

The Thai men ran out easy winners over New Zealand in their elimination game but that may be as far as they get with the daunting presence of China awaiting them next.

Japan produced an epic performance to scrape past Germany 3-2, coming back from 2-1 down with Kenichi Tago defeating Marcel Reuter 21-19, 21-15 in the decisive fifth game.

It set them up for a last eight meeting with Malaysia, led by world number two Lee Chong Wei.

England beat Nigeria 3-0 and now face hosts Indonesia, who are tipped to meet China in the final.

In Uber Cup action, the Netherlands piled on the misery for New Zealand with a 3-0 victory to set up a clash against the invincible Chinese in the quarter-finals.

China, who have won the tournament 10 times and are red-hot favourite to retain the title, received a bye to the last eight.

Malaysia scored a memorable 3-0 over Japan, considered one of the better teams in the competition, to set up a quarter-final showdown against South Korea.

Hong Kong were too good for the United States in their elimination round clash to set up a quarter-final against Indonesia, while Germany beat South Africa and will next play Denmark.

Results of elimination rounds:

Thomas Cup

Thailand bt New Zealand 3-0 (Boonsak Ponsana bt John Moody 21-11, 21-11; Poompat Sapkulchananart bt Kevin Dennerly 21-16, 21-3; Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk bt Craig Cooper 21-19, 21-9).

Japan bt Germany 3-2 (Shoji Sato (JPN) bt Marc Zwiebler (GER) 19-21, 21-17, 21-5; Ingo Kindervater/Kristof Hopp (GER) bt Shintaro Ikeda/Shuichi Sakamoto (JPN) 21-19, 17-21, 21-16; Dieter Domke (GER) bt Sho Sasaki (JPN) 21-12, 21-16; Keita Masuda/Tadashi Ohtuka (JPN) bt Roman Spitko/Michael Fuchs (GER) 22-10, 21-18; Kenichi Tago (JPN) bt Marcel Reuter (GER) 21-19, 21-15).

South Korea bt Canada 3-0 (Park Sung-Hwan bt Andrew Dabeka 21-11, 21-11; Jung Jae-Sung/Lee Yong-Dae bt William Milroy/Mike Beres 21-18, 21-12; Lee Hyun-Il bt Bobby Milroy 21-15, 21-8).

England bt Nigeria 3-0 (Rajiv Ouseph bt Ibrahim Adamu 21-9, 21-18; Nathan Rice bt Jinkam Ifraimu 21-17, 21-16; Ben Beckman bt Olauluwa Faghemi 19-21, 21-15, 21-16).

Uber Cup:

Malaysia bt Japan 3-0 (Wong Mew Choo bt Eriko Hirose 21-17, 21-18; Lim Pek Siah/Wong Pei Tty bt Satoko Suetsuna/Miyuki Maeda 21-15, 21-18; Julia Wong Pei Xian bt Yu Hirayama 21-15, 10-21, 21-19).

Netherlands bt New Zealand 3-0 (Jie Yao bt Rachel Hindley 21-10, 21-12; Judith Meulendijks bt Michelle Chan 21-19, 21-10; Karina De Wit bt Jessica Jonggowisastro 21-18, 21-15).

Germany bt South Africa 3-0 (Xu Huaiwen bt Kerry-Lee Harrington 21-10, 21-8; Carloa Bott bt Stacey Doubell 21-19, 21-11; Karin Schnaase bt Annari Vijoen 21-7, 21-6).

Hong Kong bt United States 3-0 (Yip Pui Yin bt Eva Lee 21-11, 21-9; Mong Kwan Yi bt Lauren Todt 21-14, 21-10; Koon Wai Chee/Chau Hoi Wah bt Mesinee Mangkalaliri/Eva Lee 21-19, 21-15).—AFP