It will be Korea’s first since their 3-1 loss to the same opponents in Kunshan six years ago.

Tomorrow’s final against holders China, who defeated hosts Thailand 3-0 in the other semifinal, has some history. Korea’s success at the Impact Arena avenged back-to-back last four defeats to today’s opponents in 20. The little sister gave us a good platform so we had to win too.” Shida and Matsuyama did not handle pressure well. Lee added: “An’s win made them nervous and they were trying too hard against us to level the score. “They seemed unsettled from the start so we were able to play to our pace and control the rallies,” said the veteran of three Uber Cup campaigns.

Shin, who earlier combined with Lee to win 21-16 21-17, agreed the Japanese succumbed under pressure. “Also, Okuhara made a lot mistakes because they were under pressure as favourites and that worked to our advantage.” An runs off in delight after sidestepping Yamaguchi. Thanks to all the cheering from my teammates I was able to come back,” said Kim post-match. “I was calmer at the start because of our lead but lost a bit of confidence after the second game. Okuhara took the second 21-11 but Kim stayed focus in the face of a few unforced errors to grab the decider 21-16. Kim, though less fancied in her maiden encounter with world No.6 Nozomi Okuhara, then raced to a 17-minute 21-12 first game victory. Second singles Kim Ga Eun’s heroics helped Korea blank Japan 3-0 en route to their first Uber Cup final since 2016.įavourites Japan were 2-0 down after an exhausted An Se Young staged a comeback against world champion Akane Yamaguchi and first doubles Lee So Hee/ Shin Seung Chan dispatched Nami Matsuyama/ Chiharu Shida in straight games.

Prized mercy brave frontier