NEW WAVE OF STARS
Youngsters Alex Lanier of France (21), Ayush Shetty of India (21), Alwi Farhan of Indonesia (21), and South Korean Cho Hyeon-woo (19) made their presence felt with strong showing for their teams. There were ups and downs but the experience in Horsens here will be valuable as they try to establish as the future top players.
PARK MAKES HIS MARK
Park Joo-bong never fails to shine as the true maestro of the game. He returned to take charge of the Koreans after ending his stint in Japan. He had the weakest men singles in Thomas Cup. They beat Taiwan but lost on countback in group. The women’s team led by An Se-young however made him smile by upstaging China for the Uber Cup title.
SCORING SUCCESS
The Horsens Finals will be the last to use the 21x3 scoring format after the world body approved the introduction of the 15x3 rally system starting next year. The next Finals in Indonesia will feature shorter matches, with no more marathons like the one between Weng Hongyang and Toma Junior Popov that lasted one hour and 36 minutes.
UNINSPIRING INDONESIA
There was a major upset as traditional powerhouse Indonesia, 14-time champions, failed to clear the group stage for the first time. Despite fielding a strong line-up featuring Fajar Alfian–Shohibul Fikri, Jonatan Christie, Alwi Farhan, Moh Zaki Ubaidillah, Anthony Ginting and doubles legend Hendra Setiawan as coach, they still fell flat.
lANOTHER TERRIFIC THAI
Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul showed that Thailand do not have to depend on Kunlavut Vitidsarn alone in singles. The 21-year-old Panitchaphon maintained a 100 per cent record across all his matches, including the quartter-final win against Magnus Johannesen of Denmark and group win against world No. 10 Alex Lanier of France.
