Men`s team loss gave us extra motivation: Shixian

New Delhi: All England champion Shixian Wang of China today said the shocking loss of their men`s team in the Thomas Cup semi-finals had spurred them to do well as they clinched their 13th title at the Uber Cup here on Saturday.

Badminton powerhouse China, who won the title nine times, were knocked out by Korea 0-3 in the semi-finals but their women`s team made up for them by winning the Uber Cup crown for the 13th time, defeating Japan 3-1 in the finals. World no 2 Shixian said: "People are looking into China`s defeat because China does not lose that often. We cannot be beaten easily. "Four years ago in Uber Cup, China lost to Korea. I was in that team and we know that feeling. We were so depressed. The men`s team goes through the same but they will come back. "That is an alarm for Chinese badminton team. It did give us some extra motivation," she said. The two-time All England champion defeated Sayaka Takahashi 21-16 21-12 to give China a 2-1 lead. Shixian said she was a bit nervous during her match. "At the beginning, I was trailing but the margin was not too big. So it was not a big problem. But this is Uber Cup final, so I was bit nervous but was able to adjust and encourage myself to comeback. And I am happy that we have defended our title." It was Olympic bronze medallist Li Xuerui who gave china a positive start when she beat world no 12 Minatsu Mitani 21-15 21-5 in the first singles. Mitami had started off well, leading 7-3 initially amid loud cheers by her teammate who were sitting on the sidelines. But Li went into the break at 11-10 and after the interval zoomed to 19-11 in a jiffy. Egged on by her teammates, Mitani reeled off four straight points but Li moved into the game point with a smash and then pocketed the first game when Mitani hit long. Li didn`t have any problem whatsoever after that as she easily went on to win the second game without breaking any sweat. "I just played my own game. I didn`t think too much. I just focussed on the game. I took it very seriously," she said after the match. We believed in ourselves." Li was awarded the Player of the year last night but organizers got her spelling wrong. Talking about the BWF Award, Li said: "The name is written wrong, it should be written Li, not Lee. This is the first time I got this award and I want the right one." "I`m very happy that first time I got his award. This is very important for me. I think it`s a huge recognition of what I achieved in 2013. Although I lost my World Championship final but other than that I`m happy with the award." Li said she didnt expect an easy match today. "I didn`t think I could play so well today in the first game against an opponent we had some tough fights in the previous meetings, we went to three games. I didn`t expect that." Japan coach Park Joo-Bong said: "Our matches ended late last night, so we had little time to recover. The players were a bit tired. Of course, China is a very strong team. Their world no 1 and 2, both are very experienced players and they have an attacking game and our defence fell apart."