In the semifinal of the Uber Cup Finals 2022, we will witness an exciting match between Korea vs Japan. The strength of the two countries is quite balanced. Korea qualified after beating Denmark with a landslide score of 3-0 and Japan also won with the same score over Taiwan. In the first match between Korea vs Japan, we will see the two mortal enemies of Akane Yamaguchi and An Seyoung. Yamaguchi, who is now number one in the world, regained her confidence after defeating former first-ranked women's singles from Chinese Taipei Tai Tzu Ying in three games 21-10, 19-21, 21-19. Meanwhile, An Seyoung was forced to play rubber games 18-21, 21-15, 21-18 to overcome Mia Blichfeldt from Denmark in the quarterfinals. Akane Yamaguchi has a good meeting record when she meets An Seyoung. She won seven times and lost only four times.
In the women’s singles, the strength of Japan is considered more than Korea. Besides Akane Yamaguchi, they have Nozomi Okuhara, world number six who has also been ranked number one in the world. Okuhara is also the winner of the 2021 All England Open. In addition, Japan still has Sayaka Takahashi who is ranked 13th. On the other hand, Korea will also have Kim Ga-Eun (18) and Sim Yu-jin (48).
For the women’s doubles, Korea is slightly superior. Two of their pairs are in second and third place, namely Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chan (2) and Kim So-yeong/Kong Hee-yong (3). These pairs will go against Japan’s Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (4) and Wakana Nagahara/Mayu Matsumoto (5). Despite being lower in the rankings, Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota have only lost once to Lee So-hee/Shin Seung-chan in seven meetings. However, as we know, the meeting record can be meaningless because everything will still be determined on the field.
In the other semifinal, we have China vs host country Thailand. China is favored to qualify for the final. The strength of their opponent is not as good as the other two semifinalist countries, Japan and Korea. In the first single, China's mainstay who is also a gold medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Chen Yu Fei (3) will be a tough challenge for Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon (8). Chen Yu Fei won 13 times in 15 encounters with Intanon. Likewise in the other two singles. China will field He Bing Jiao (9) in the world while Thailand will have Pornpawee Chochuwong (10). He Bing Jiao has only lost twice in 11 encounters with Chochuwong. While in the doubles, China relies on world number one Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan to beat their opponents, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai, ranked eighth. Victory is in sight because Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan have always won in 12 meetings. Thailand, however, has something that no other semifinalists have: the energy of playing in their homeland along with the support coming from fans. As a host, Thailand will surely fight until their last drop of sweat to bring their team to the final. (*)
