DUBAI, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- "Danish badminton dynamite" was defused two times on Saturday in the men's and women's doubles semisfinals of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017.
In the men's doubles semifinals, Indonesian duo Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo needed three sets (21-10, 18-21, 21-16) to win over Takeshi Kamura/Keigo Sonoda from Japan within one hour and three minutes.
"Marcus and Kevin are national heroes in my country. It is really great to see them here in Dubai where I work and live with my family," said badminton fan Luke S. who went to Dubai's iconic Hamdan Sports Complex to watch the semifinals.
The team Gideon/Sakumuljo will encounter China's Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan, the champions of the 2017 Danisa Denmark Open, in the men's doubles final on Sunday. Liu/Zhang won in two sets 21-17, 21-16 against Denmark's Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen, the London 2012 Olympics silver medalists.
Asked if they prepared specially for this match, Liu said, "we trained as usual and combined well today. We will not relax and will be ready for tomorrow's final."
In the women's doubles semifinals, Danish duo Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl, who won the Singapore Open this year, lost in two sets against Japanese pair Shiho Tanaka/Koharu Yonemoto.
"We will come up with a good strategy tomorrow," 27-year old Yonemoto said. She added that "we play this tournament for the first time hence we feel happy and honored to reach the finals."
"Sometimes we played very good badminton, but sometimes we were average. It was a close call as we lost both sets 19-21, 19-21. It was not our top form," said 34-year old Juhl.
Pedersen (1.78 meters) and Juhl (1.83 meters) who both wore pink shoes are among the tallest female professional badminton players, but "It is good to be a tall girl or tall guy in badminton, but height is not always advantage as tall players like us must coordinate our movements more on court when we are faced with smaller opponents in particular in relation to speed and then we have to adapt," explained Juhl.
The duo Tanaka/Yonemoto, winners of the 2017 Yonex Sunrise India Open, will face in the final their compatriots Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota who beat China's Huang Yaqiong/Yu Xiaohan, who were victorious in the 2017 Victor Korea Open.
