China beat Japan 3-1 to claim Thomas Cup

Bangkok: China’s men took home the Thomas Cup on Saturday, defeating a hard-charging Japanese team 3-1 and regaining glory after stumbling out of the biennial tournament early in 2016. Olympic medallist and world number five Chen Long got the team off to a slow start in an upset loss to Japan’s flashy left-hander Kento Momota 21-9, 21-18. But China’s star-heavy squad rallied, with world number three doubles pair Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan levelling the contest, while Shi Yuqi stayed one step ahead of Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto, jumping in the air for a smash winner to reach a match-point that Nishimoto then netted to give him the win 21-12, 21-17.