Firdasari outstanding in Indonesia's loss to Korea in Uber Cup<\/p>\n
Zakki P. Hakim and Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's hopes for Uber Cup victory were dashed in the
\nquarterfinals at the hands of South Korea, but the home fans
\npacking the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium had been realistic about
\ntheir chances and applauded their shuttlers at the end of the
\nmatch here on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's young girls were beaten 1-3 and were denied a
\nplace in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
Despite the exit, Adrianti Firdasari undoubtedly enjoyed the
\nlimelight during that afternoon match-up, scoring the only point
\nfor Indonesia.<\/p>\n
With Indonesia 2-0 behind after two matches were completed,
\nFirdasari registered a hard-fought 9-11, 11-6, 11-7 win over Lee
\nYun-hwa, thus providing the hosts with a chance to force the
\nKoreans to a decider.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Silvi Antarini was defeated by Jun Jae-youn 11-4, 11-
\n1 and Maria Kristin was trampled by Seo Yoon-hee 11-5, 11-9 to
\nhand the Koreans the driving seat.<\/p>\n
However, Jo Novita and Lita Nurlita fell five points short of
\nmaking it to 2-2 in the match against Lee Hyo-jung\/Hwang Yu-mi.<\/p>\n
After sharing the opening two games, Jo and Lita looked to be
\nheading for a win when they led 10-5. However, they let the lead
\nslip out of their hands, losing 14-17, 15-1, 15-12.<\/p>\n
At the end, every spectator in the stadium couldn't agree more
\nthat it was just not Jo and Lita's day, as after three games of
\nsuperb jumping smashes, excellent drives and accurate returns,
\nthe Indonesians crashed out.<\/p>\n
Korea will face Denmark, which had to play all five matches to
\nconquer the Netherlands 3-2.<\/p>\n
After a dull performance of long rallies and numerous unforced
\nerrors in the first two matches, Firdasari rose to her trademark
\nof aggressive play with accurately placed sharp and quick smashes
\nto catch up from 9-4 down to 9-9 in the first game against Lee.<\/p>\n
However, the Korean steadied her pace to win 11-9.<\/p>\n
The second game saw relatively tight play, but Firdasari raced
\nfrom a 6-6 to take the game 11-6 with her combination of sharp
\ncrossing smashes.<\/p>\n
Finally, thousands of home fans held their breath during the
\nthird game before Firdasari sealed the game and the match 11-7.<\/p>\n
Despite a commanding performance by his players, Korean team
\nmanager Kim Jong-soo said that his team was fortunate to win the
\nmatch as they had not been sure of stealing a point from the
\nsecond singles and the first doubles.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's singles coach Ivana Lie said that Silvi suffered
\nfatigue from her earlier three matches against all top players,
\nwhile her opponent had a relatively easier challenge in her
\nprevious group matches.<\/p>\n
She also said that Maria's problem was more psychological than
\ntechnical, and she had been trying to solve Maria's disadvantage.<\/p>\n
Danish top player Camilla Martin lost to Yao Jie, but Denmark
\nstill managed to scrape a 3-2 win over the Netherlands thanks to
\nwinning runs by Tine Rasmussen in the singles, Rikke Olsen and
\nAnn Lou Jorgensen, and Mette Scholdager and Pernille Harder in
\nthe doubles.<\/p>\n
Defending champion China had no serious problem in tackling
\nMalysia, cruising to a 3-0 win.<\/p>\n
China will be challenged by Japan which edged out Chinese
\nTaipei 3-2.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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