Jonassen’s absence proves costly for Denmark

THE absence of top singles player Kenneth Jonassen cost Denmark dearly as they let slip a 2-0 lead to lose 2-3 against South Korea in a Thomas Cup quarter-final tie last night.

The top ranked Danish singles player had to sit out in the crucial tie because of a back injury. He also did not feature in the tie against Japan on Monday.

In his absence, Peter Gade-Christensen had to move up to play the first singles match. But the Danes' downfall against the Koreans was their lack of quality cover in the second and third singles slots.

Joachim Persson and Jan O Jorgensen were both out of depth against Lee Hyun-il and Shon Seung-mo.

Gade-Christensen defied the odds, beating Asian champion Park Sung-hwan 26-24, 20-22, 21-19 in a titanic 80-minute struggle.

“Losing Jonassen for such an important clash came as a big blow to the team. But I am happy to have played my part to beat Sung-hwan,” said Gade-Christensen. “Although I am currently not in my best form, I managed to give him a tough fight and prevented Korea from getting the upper hand earlier on.”

The Danes doubled their advantage when the experienced Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen scored an upset 21-18, 10-21, 21-19 victory over the fancied Jung Jae-sung-Lee Yong-dae.

But Denmark's weakness in the remaining singles matches was exposed as Joachim Persson was no match for Korean Open champion Lee Hyun-il, going down 10-21, 14-21 in just 29 mnutes.

The Korean tactic to deliberately lose both their group ties against England and Malaysia to set up a quarter-final meeting with Denmark almost backfired as Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen gave Lee Jae-jin-Hwang Ji-man a major scare in the second doubles match.

But the Koreans relied on their speed to carve out a 21-19, 21-18 win to force the tie to go down to the wire.

Jorgensen, who is ranked 50th in the world, tried to take the game to Seung-mo but was let down by his lack of experience playing in world-class tournaments. Seung-mo, who won the silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics but now ranked at number 61, delivered the winning point with a 21-11, 21-9 victory.

The defeat ended the Danes bid to make a hat-trick of final appearances in the Thomas Cup Finals. The European Zone champions were the runners-up to China in 2004 and 2006.

South Korea have yet to feature in the final of the Thomas Cup series.