PETALING JAYA: China suffered an early blow in their Thomas Cup group stage tie against Canada after Shi Yuqi withdrew from his match, but the rest of the team cruised to victory on Monday (April 27).
World No. 1 Yuqi was scheduled to face Victor Lai but handed the Canadian a walkover due to illness.
China’s men’s doubles pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang were then pushed but managed to level the tie after beating Kevin Lee-Ty Alexander Lindeman 24-22, 21-14.
Li Shifeng followed up with a 23-21, 21-10 win over Brian Yang before He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu quickly dispatched Kiren Deraj-Daniel Leung 21-15, 21-9 to seal the tie.
Singles player Weng Hongyang then wrapped things up with a 21-15, 21-5 victory over Timothy Lock to make it 4-1 for China.
The win gave China their second Group A victory and secured their place in the quarter-finals, following their 5-0 triumph over Australia on Friday.
Eleven-time winners China will be joined by India in the last eight after the latter beat Australia 5-0 yesterday.
China and India will meet in their final group stage fixture on Wednesday (April 29).
