PROTON-BWF THOMAS & UBER CUP 2010 FINALS: China-Malaysia semi-final, Indonesia also through

Denmark, who were the dark horses of the tournament, paraded perhaps their strongest ever line-up but it was Hafiz who stole the limelight as Malaysia joined China, Indonesia and Japan in the final four.

"It was a hard situation to be in. I didn't play as well as I wanted yesterday and this meant we had a more difficult draw. I was disappointed with my performance yesterday and wanted to make amends," said the 2003 All-England champion.

"I was under pressure again today as the score was 2-2 and it was up to me to score the winning point. I was determined not to let the country down today and went all out right from the first point."

He added the team had a meeting after their defeat to Japan and this helped them to stay focus on today's match.

World No. 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei gave Malaysia a flying start when he defeated Peter Gade 21-17, 21-17. Koo Kean Keat-Tan Boon Heong then made it 2-0 by beating Carsten Mogensen-Mathias Boe 21-17, 21-19.

Veteran Wong Choong Hann could have clinched the match for the hosts but let slip a 20-17 lead in the first game to lose 22-20 to Jan O Jorgensen. He won the second game 21-16 but lost the third 21-18.

Scratch pair Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How surprised many when they pushed experienced pair Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen to the limit before losing 26-24, 12-21, 19-21.

Malaysia will play China in the semi-finals while Japan face off with Indonesia.

Japan's head coach Park Joo-bong said: "We are very happy to be in the semi-finals and I hope we can give the fans something to cheer. Japan have never reached the Thomas Cup final but we are one step away from doing so. However, it will be tough against Indonesia."

QUARTER-FINALS

THOMAS CUP

China 3 South Korea 0 (Lin Dan bt Park Sung-hwan 21-16, 21-15; Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng bt Jung Jae-sung-Shin Baek-cheol 21-11; 21-16; Chen Jin bt Shon Wan-ho 21-15, 21-12)

Indonesia 3 India 0 (Taufik Hidayat bt Kashyap Parupalli 21-12, 10-21, 21-17; Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan bt Sanave Thomas-Akshay Dewalkar 21-16, 21-17; Simon Santoso bt Arvind Bhatt 21-8, 2-10)

Malaysia 3 Denmark 2 (Lee Chong Wei bt Peter Gade 21-17, 21-17; Koo Kean Keat-Tan Boon Heong bt Carsten Mogensen-Mathias Boe 21-17, 21-19; Wong Choong ann

lost Jan Ø Jørgensen 22-20, 21-16, 18-21; Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How lst Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen 26-24, 12-21, 19-21; Mohd Hafiz Hashim bt Joachim Persson 21-12, 21-10)

Japan 3 Germany 1 (Kenichi Tago bt Marc Zwiebler 15-21, 21-18, 21-18; Hiroyuki Endo-Yoshiteru Hirobe lost Michael Fuchs-Kristof Hopp 21-16, 19-21, 22-24; Sho Sasaki bt Dieter Domke 21-19, 21-17; Kenichi Hayakawa-Kenta Kazuno bt Ingo Kinderwater-Johannes Schoettler 2-16, 21-16)