Team China's double delight
Host dominates in remarkable final day at Thomas and Uber Cup
Not quite the tough test it expected, but a good enough warm-up for a gold hunt in Paris.
Team China's cruise to a record-extending 16th Uber Cup title has served up a huge confidence booster, as it seeks to regain supremacy of the women's game at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Roared on by a vocal home crowd at the High-Tech Zone Sports Center in Chengdu, the Chinese women's badminton squad proved its mighty collective strength on Sunday after sweeping Indonesia 3-0 in the final to retake the biannual world women's team championship crown in the Sichuan provincial capital.
The recapturing of the prestigious trophy, following China's final loss to South Korea in 2022, needs to be put into perspective, though, with several top rivals, such as Korea's world No 1 An Se-young and Japan's two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi, sidelined by injury, providing the host a lighter challenge on its home court.
