Japan ended China's reign in the men's team championship as they hammered the defending champions 3-0 in the semifinals of the Li-Ning BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals here on Friday.
While the men bowed out in Thomas Cup, Chinese women continued their dominance in the Uber Cup with a 3-0 mauling of Korea.
The Japanese men's team completely dominated the proceedings, as China, who had been unbeaten since 2004, managed to win just one game in the three matches and that too after saving a couple of game points.
The stage was set by world number four Kenichi Tago, who humbled world number two Chen Long 21-13 21-11 in 43 minutes to hand the Chinese their first defeat in the competition.
The defending champions would have thought that the loss would be a mere aberration, but the Japanese had some other plans. While it looked as if China's Biao Chai and Wei Hong would set the records straight when they took a 20-16 lead in the first game, but they inexplicably lost nerve and the game, and eventually the match.
With world champion Lin Dan scheduled to play the third singles, all Chinese men needed to do was to stretch till the fifth rubber but former junior world champion Kento Momota wasn't going to be an easy prey for world number six Pengyu Du.
The 19-year-old Japanese did drop the first game after wasting two game points, but then raised the tempo with clinical smashing and net play to upset Du 23-25 21-18 21-14 to send his team into their maiden Thomas Cup final.
"We were always targeting the Chinese as we thought they were beatable despite the fact that they had very good singles players. I am happy that I got a chance to finish things off," said Momota after the match.
But their Korean coach, Joo Bong Park, expressed surprise over Japan's entry into the final.
"It (the win) came as a big surprise to us all. What was even more surprising was the way Momota won the second singles against Du. If he had not, then the tie could have gone either way with Lin Dan to play the third singles," said Park.
