By Yoon Chul
Staff reporter
The Korean women's badminton team proved its prowess and made up for the collapse of men's squad by making it to the final of the Uber Cup.
At the biggest team competition in the sport, Korea beat Japan 3-1 in Thursday's semifinal match at Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
While the men's team failed to overcome the absence of its key player Lee Yong-dae, who was off the roster due to an elbow injury, with a 3-0 loss to China in the quarterfinals, the women's squad was stellar.
World No. 16 Bae Seung-hee played first against world 13th ranked Eriko Hirose, and grabbed a valuable 21-12, 21-16 win.
Veteran Lee Hyo-jung, a mixed-double gold medalist at Beijing Olympics, paired with Kim Min-jung to breeze over the world No. 5 duo, Satoko Suetsuna and Miyuki Maeda, in straight sets; 21-19, 21-10.
Japan, however, struck back immediately as 23rd ranked Ai Goto beat the lower-ranked Bae Youn-joo (30th), 21-10, 22-20.
Korea, however, allowed for no more drama as another veteran and Beijing silver medalist, Lee Kyung-won, teamed up with Ha Jung-eun to smash the 6th Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa in a 21-14, 21-18 victory, nailing the team's win.
Previously, Korea advanced to the quarterfinals by overwhelming South Africa and India in Group D, followed by a 3-1 win against Russia in the quarterfinals.
Korea will meet the winner between China and Indonesia in Saturday's final.