RI crushes S. Korea for Sudirman final<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian shuttlers were only one step away
\nfrom fulfilling their dream of bringing home the Sudirman Cup,
\nafter crushing South Korea 3-1 on Friday at the San Pablo Stadium
\nin Seville, Spain.<\/p>\n
Indonesia last reached the Sudirman Cup final in 1995 but had
\nto bow out to defending champion China.<\/p>\n
Competing while their country is gripped by political tension,
\nall shuttlers contributed strong performances.<\/p>\n
Indonesia fielded an unexpected line-up, particularly in the
\nmixed and women's doubles events.<\/p>\n
Tri Kusherjanto and Vita Marissa, who had not played in the
\nround-robin earlier, bowed out to Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min
\n15-7, 15-7 in a 45-minute battle.<\/p>\n
World number three Taufik Hidayat managed to tie the teams'
\nscores at 1-1 after easily eliminating new star Lee Hyun-il 15-
\n11, 15-5 in 39 minutes.<\/p>\n
The decisive women's singles match featured world number 49
\nLidya Djaelawidjaja and world number 35 Jun Jae-youn. Lidya was
\ndowned 4-11 in the first game but managed to bounce back to win
\nthe second 11-9.<\/p>\n
In the do-or-die game, Lidya and Jun raced neck-and-neck, but
\nthe 26-year-old Indonesian managed to seal the match 13-12,
\nending a 66-minute struggle.<\/p>\n
In the men's doubles, Olympic gold medalists Tony Gunawan and
\nCandra Wijaya repeated their success in Sydney by crushing
\nOlympic silver medalists Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung 15-5, 15-
\n7 in only 39 minutes.<\/p>\n
The indecisive women's doubles match, between Deyana Lomban
\nand Etty Tantri and Koreans Lee Kyung-won and Ra Kyung-min, was
\nnot played.<\/p>\n
\"The shuttlers showed their best performances in a tremendous
\nsemifinal fight, thanks to our preparation back home,\" team
\nmanager Karsono told The Jakarta Post over the phone from
\nSeville.<\/p>\n
\"Thank goodness God was with us. His presence was very clear
\nand we could all feel it here.\"<\/p>\n
Head coach Christian Hadinata could not hide his satisfaction
\nfrom the shuttlers performances. He pointed out that the critical
\npoint was Lidya's singles victory.<\/p>\n
\"Lidya had to win her match to ensure our victory for the
\nfinal, and she did it. If she lost, we would have probably lost
\nthe round because South Korea's women's doubles are definitely
\nstronger than ours.<\/p>\n
\"South Korea would have taken the points from the mixed
\ndoubles, women's singles and women's doubles. That's why Lidya
\nplayed an important role in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
\"Coach Verawati Fadjrin gave her special instructions but I
\ncould only shout to her to hang in there,\" Christian said.<\/p>\n
\"I was very relaxed and did not have any stress before the
\nmatch because I knew I was the underdog,\" Lidya was quoted as
\nsaying by AFP.<\/p>\n
\"But when I started to win points I got more confident. I just
\ntried and tried my best and hoped that I could win,\" added Lidya,
\nwho fought back from 9-7 down in the deciding game to win.<\/p>\n
No intention<\/p>\n
Christian also said Korea would have definitely won the mixed
\ndoubles but it was not the reason behind playing Tri Kusherjanto
\nand Vita Marissa.<\/p>\n
\"No, we didn't intentionally concede the mixed doubles, but we
\nmust give Tri a chance to play. It's important for all shuttlers
\nto adapt to the court as part for our finals preparation.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot be forced to field Minarti Timur all the time
\nbecause she would be very tired. Besides, it's very difficult to
\nwin over the Koreans mixed doubles,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Christian remained tight-lipped on Indonesia's line-up for
\nSaturday's final, saying he had to evaluate Friday's performance
\nfirst.<\/p>\n
\"We must have a meeting based on the shuttlers' performance
\nbefore we set the line-up. Besides, we don't know who our
\nopponent in the final is yet,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the remaining semifinal, to be played at 6.00 p.m. local
\ntime (11.00 p.m. Jakarta time), China will face Denmark.<\/p>\n
The match will begin with the mixed doubles, pitting Olympic
\ngold medalists Zhang Jun and Gao Ling against Danish world number
\none Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen.<\/p>\n
Women's singles player Gong Zhichao will face Camilla Martin,
\nfollowed by the men's singles match between Chen Hong and world
\nnumber two Peter Gade Christensen.<\/p>\n
In the women's doubles, Gao Ling and Huang Sui will meet Ann-
\nLou Jorgensen and Mette Schjoldager, while the men's doubles will
\nsee Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen play Zhang Jun and Zhang Wei.<\/p>\n
Xinhua reported that China's head coach Li Yongbo expressed
\nanger on Thursday over the chief umpire's arrangement of a tight
\nsemifinal and final schedule for the team.<\/p>\n
\"Our semifinal match could go until midnight on Friday. We
\nwould have only 12 hours to recover before the start of the final
\n(on Saturday at 1.00 p.m. local time). That's too tough for our
\nplayers,\" Li Yong said. (nvn\/yan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-crushes-s-korea-for-sudirman-final-1447893297",
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