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The Indonesian men lost to China in the semifinals of the Thomas Cup qualifier on Friday, but the women netted a double win: not only did they rout Singapore in their Uber Cup playoff, but they received renewed hope of advancing to the finals.

World badminton officials had said that only the top four women’s teams in the Asia zone qualifiers in Macau would advance to the Uber Cup finals, slated for May 20-27 in Wuhan, China. So Indonesia looked like it was out of contention after losing to China in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), however, believes there’s still a chance for the women to qualify for the finals if Indonesia finishes fifth in the Asian zone by winning all three of its playoff matches.

Normally, the finals host doesn’t participate in the qualifier, but since finishes have a bearing on berths for this year’s Olympics, China wanted to compete.

PBSI secretary general Yacob Rusdianto said only Thailand, Japan and Taiwan had snapped up places in the Uber Cup finals, with host China already in.

“We believe the fifth-ranked team will also qualify for the finals,” he said.

At the last Uber Cup, in 2010, only the top three teams from the Asian qualifier earned automatic berths to the tournament’s finals but the fourth-place team could qualify if it had a better world ranking than the fourth-place team from the European zone.

Yacob believed the same rules still applied this year.

“We’re still waiting for BWF’s [Badminton World Federation] official announcement, but I think that it will be the same as the previous Cup,” he said.

On the court, the Indonesian women started strong in the race for fifth place with a 5-0 rout of Singapore at Macau Forum.

Adrianti Firdasari took the lead for Indonesia with a 21-11, 10-21, 21-16 defeat of Gu Juan.

Women’s doubles Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari survived a late charge from Singapore’s Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari to win 21-16, 22-20, while Maria Febe Kusumastuti beat Fu Mingtian 21-16, 17-21, 21-12.

Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Anneke Feinya Agustin strolled to 21-5, 21-16 win over Chen Jiayuan and Thng Ting Ting before Lindaweni Fanetri fought back from a game down to complete the rout with an 18-21, 21-12, 21-16 defeat of Xing Aiying.

The women meet Malaysia today. The Malaysians lost 3-2 to Hong Kong on Friday.

Meanwhile, China was too much for the Indonesian men as it strolled to a 3-0 victory in their semifinal.

Taufik Hidayat fell 21-13, 21-8 to Chen Long, before Chai Biao and Guo Zhendong made it 2-0 for China with a 21-17, 21-12 defeat of Bona Septano and Mohammad Ahsan.

Chen Jin secured China’s passage to the final with a 21-14, 21-8 win over Tommy Sugiarto.

Indonesia had already secured a berth to the finals, with the top five men’s teams advancing to Wuhan.

In Sunday’s final, China will play Japan, which beat Malaysia 3-0 in the other semifinal.