Report and photos by Raphael Sachetat, Badmintonphoto.com

After their close win against Germany, India are one victory away from their target - to enter the quarter final of the Thomas Cup. On the same day, Indonesia, made their debut by winning in Sendai.

There was a huge smile on Vimal Kumar’s already very pleasant face when his boys delivered the winning point on Friday as it wasn’t a done deal against Germany to try to get the second spot in Group A. With quite an even squad on both sides, and injuries as well, it was the closest tie of the day on paper. And it was so on court. Yet things didn’t start out too well for the Indians, who lost their first match when Chetan Anand was ousted by Bjoern Joppien in straight games.

It was then that the Indian coach started worrying a bit, "We knew that our main chances were on the men’s singles, as we were missing key players in the men’s double. We had two scratch pairs, one because Sanave is actually back home getting prepared for his wedding on May 1st, while Rupesh Kumar had a stomach problem and had to be replaced at the last minute by Pawar.” So the defeat of Anand wasn’t exactly good news.

Anup Sridhar and Arvind Bhat, however, delivered the two other expected points to get back in the tie, each time with very close matches. Yet Hopp and Kindervater put everyone on the same level when they beat Kurian and Ismail, leaving the hardest task for their compatriots Fuchs and Spitko against scratch pair Anwar/Diju. And to everyone’s surprises, it was the Indians who took the lead 7/2 before the Germans lost their chances while leading18/16 later on in the first game. The Asians were more solid at the end and scored the 5 remaining points in a row to close it up 21/18.

The second game saw them even more on top of their game in spite of Anwar’s young age and the Indians took away the deciding point of the tie. "I am very satisfied with this performance as it was a tough match. I wasn’t very happy with the conditions when we arrived as we could hardly practise at all in the Hall, so I had to field the same players who played against China because they had a feel of the court already. Now, we have one more match to meet our target which is to reach the quarter finals here,” said Kumar. They will play New Zealand first in order to get their ticket to the last eight.

It was a rather easy evening for Taufik and his compatriots, as expected against New Zealand before the big clash on Sunday against South Korea. Hidayat, however, played it cool against John Moody and didn't push himself - just enough to get the job done. It could be because of his injury as well. "I don't know whether I will be playing tomorrow. I hope, but I still feel my back injury," said Taufik. Yet the Indonesian wonder reassured his fans and local media about his absence during the past few months.

"The Chinese reporters ask me always if the reason I don't go to tournaments is because I'm scared of Lin Dan. No, I'm not scared of Lin Dan. I have beaten him in the important matches and I will do my best here to help my compatriots," said Taufik, with his usual cheeky smile.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro also had the job done while Simon Santoso gave Indonesia the winning point against Craig Cooper, with the two doubles logically finishing up the job for a 5/0 clean sweep, even if Sigit and Candra struggled against Shirley and Cooper in their first game. They will meet Korea to top the Group of Death on Sunday.

Japan and England were the other two winners of the Thomas Cup round robin matches, with a clear victory in the tie for the hosts against South Africa, while the USA almost created the upset of the day against England, after Raju Rai beat Smith and Gunawan/Go beat Roebuck/Lindley, but the English managed to win the rest of the points to make a winning entry in this competition.

The umpire's biggest nightmare is here - Rulan and Rulien Yeh, from the USA. Not because they misbehave but because they are simply identical twins. The 21-year-old sisters could be switching sides whenever they want - nobody would notice it! With this new scoring system, they could also take advantage of their looks. But no. "I remember once, a long time ago, I served twice in a row. Nobody noticed but I didn't do it on purpose," laughed one of the sisters.

The Yeh twins have been playing badminton for seven years and joined the national team after they started practising in Orange County Badminton Club - the new home of the National team but haven't had time to practise much for this event. "We didn't prepare especially for this, only training twice a week as always, to maintain our level, because we entered nursing school so we don't have much time to play," said Rulan (or Rulien!).

As for their special connection on court, it was rather obvious. "It's true that we have a special bond, and we have always been playing together. The good part is that we always know we have a partner and our schedules are the same, so it's great, but on the other hand, we tend to expect too much from the other and get angry at each other quite easily," they said. Not much time to get angry against Chinese Taipei's women's double as the Americans were beaten quickly by Chou and Ku, 21/14 - 21/3, giving the third and winning point to the Asians. Chinese Taipei finally secured their win 5/0 in the overall tie.

The tie of the day for the ladies saw Germany take on Singapore with a clear wish from Singapore to avoid the last spot of this group. And it went all the way to the final match of the tie, after Xu and Schenk won their points for Germany and Jiang and Li/Sari won theirs for their country. The last match, between Schenk/Grether and a scratch top pair of Jiang/Liu was even throughout the beginning of the match. But the Europeans increased the pace of the match to clinch the first game 21/15. The second one was tough but the Germans were on top and won 23/21 to finish up the tie in their favour (3/2). They will meet Korea for their last group match to decide who will top the group and have an extra day of rest.