Indonesian shuttlers advance to the Uber Cup semifinals<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Top seed Indonesia advanced to the semifinals by
\ndefeating third seed Chinese Taipei 4-1 in third-day action at
\nthe Thomas and Uber Cup qualifying round in New Delhi on Friday.<\/p>\n
First singles Lidya Djaelawidjaja, who lost her previous two
\nmatches, exploited her technical skills to top Huang Chia-Chi 11-
\n5, 11-7.<\/p>\n
The doubles pairing of Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban shook
\noff earlier poor performances to give Indonesia a 2-0 lead with a
\n15-5, 15-8 defeat of Tsai Hui-Min and Chen Li-Chin.<\/p>\n
Chinese Taipei earned one point when Chan Ya-Lin upset
\nIndonesian second singles Ellen Angelina, who had not lost a
\npoint in her previous two matches. Ellen put up a good fight, but
\nbowed out 11-4, 8-11, 4-11 after a grueling 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
The second doubles team of Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta
\n-- who fell in Thursday's deciding match against Hong Kong --
\nsecured Indonesia's semifinal berth with a 15-8, 17-14 victory
\nover Chien Hsui-Lin and Chen Wen-Hsing.<\/p>\n
Third singles Yuli Marfuah rounded out Indonesia's triumph by
\ndefeating Chien Yu-Chin 11-6, 11-8.<\/p>\n
Indonesia was the Group X runner-up after Hong Kong, which won
\nthe group despite being upset by India 1-4. Indonesia will face
\nthe winner of South Korea and Japan in Saturday's semifinals.<\/p>\n
Team manager Christian Hadinata said in a telephone interview
\nthat he was relieved by the result.<\/p>\n
\"I can finally breath again. Today was our last chance to
\nreach the semifinals. Some players improved, but some didn't,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Ellen, who usually performs good, lost her touch on critical
\npoints and made many unforced errors.\"<\/p>\n
Christian said an evaluation of the round-robin matches showed
\nIndonesian shuttlers got off to good starts, but then faded.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the time, they win the first game but they are
\ninconsistent and allow their opponents to find their form. When
\nour players are leading they cannot maintain it if their
\nopponents start to make a comeback.\"<\/p>\n
Christian said he would likely keep the same lineup for
\nSaturday's semifinals.<\/p>\n
\"This is the best team we have. We want to play our best in
\nthe semifinals to secure a ticket to the Uber Cup finals in Kuala
\nLumpur in May.\"<\/p>\n
Three teams from both the Asia and Europe zones will compete
\nin the finals along with host Malaysia and defending champion
\nChina.<\/p>\n
Christian said he had no preference in facing either South
\nKorea or Japan in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
\"Korea has a very strong doubles team in Ra Kyung-min and
\nChung Jae-hee and an energetic singles player in Kim Ji-hyun.
\nJapan has two good singles players in Yazuko Mizui and Kanako
\nYonekura. We still have a good chance to defeat either of them,\"
\nhe said. (yan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-shuttlers-advance-to-the-uber-cup-semifinals-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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