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Another big name was downed at the 2008 TUC Finals in Jakarta last night. After Taufik Hidayat's embarrassing homecourt loss on opening day to Thai teenager Tanongsak, Denmark’s former world #1 Peter Gade couldn't capitalise on his vast experience and fell 21-19, 14-21, 20-22 to Japan's world #17 Shoji Sato in 65 minutes. Denmark eventually won the tie through their 2 doubles duos, who showed that their old bones are still up for tiebreakers.

By Jan Lin, reporting live from Senayan Stadium. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Despite being issued a crucial lead, the in-form Japanese doubles pairs were unable to follow through and extend their team's lead. World #11 Shintaro Ikeda / Shuichi Sakamoto did start positively by taking the first game off world #7 Lars Paaske / Jonas Rasmussen (pictured).

Despite dropping a match to another ‘rojak’ Korean side on the second evening of the 2008 Thomas and Uber Cup finals in Jakarta, Malaysia’s chief coach Yap Kim Hock declares they are ready to take on defending champions, China. Malaysia finished on top their group after defeating Korea 4-1 yesterday evening.

By Jan Lin, reporting live from Senayan Stadium, Jakarta. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

With one team unafraid to lose and the other refusing to lose, what matters is by what margin the staunchly persistent team will win the tie by. Korean, dubbed the “most willing loser” at the 2008 Thomas Cup, has again taken a surprise point off the die-hard 2008 Malaysian Thomas Cup team.

In a hotly contested Thomas and Uber Cup finals afternoon, the Thomas Cup witnessed 2 whitewashes by 2 of the badminton powerhouses, China and Indonesia while the Uber Cup was a bittersweet affair with China going friendly against Germany and the Malaysian ladies coming so close to making history, only to have their wild card stolen by an inspired Danish team.

By Jan Lin, reporting live from Senayan Stadium, Jakarta. Photos: Badmintonphoto.com (live)

They may be everybody’s enemy in the 2008 Uber Cup but that isn’t stopping the Chinese ladies from being friendly. Their male compatriots may have been issuing whitewashes, but the Chinese ladies bequeathed a point to their German counterparts this afternoon as “a token of appreciation”.

The first night of the 2008 Thomas and Uber Cup finals ended turbulently with the Indonesian men’s team barely surviving their first round tie as they dug deep to squeeze past an inspired Thailand team 3-2. Day 2 of the 2008 Thomas and Uber Cup has started off in a seemingly turbulent fashion with the Korean wave hitting the Senayan Stadium, only more deliberately so.

By Jan Lin, reporting live from Senayan Stadium, Jakarta. Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Korea made it clear to their opponents that are on a tactical mission in their quest to bring home the elusive Thomas Cup. Their line-up against a full strength English team was more creative than the one they deployed against Malaysia in the Asian qualifying final back in February. (See related article here.)