China beats RI for fifth Sudirman Cup title
China beats RI for fifth Sudirman Cup title
Agencies
Beijing
China exorcised its demons from two years ago with a 3-0 win
over Indonesia on Sunday, taking the Sudirman Cup for the fifth
time in nine editions of the world mixed team badminton
championships.
Winning the title in front of a home crowd for the first time
made for sweet revenge for China, who saw its run of four
consecutive victories snapped by South Korea in 2003.
The victorious team, led by coach Li Bongyo, ascended the
podium at the Capital Gymnasium to lift the cup, named after
Indonesia's "father of badminton" who steered the country to its
greatest triumphs in international arenas from the 1950s to
1980s.
Indonesia, who won the inaugural biennial Sudirman Cup in 1989
in Jakarta, was unable to match the awesome strength and depth of
the Chinese shuttlers.
The latter did not lose a match throughout the six-day
tournament and only surrendered four games -- one to Hong Kong in
men's singles, one to Korea in mixed doubles and two to
Indonesia, both in mixed doubles, in the group tie and final.
Indonesia's Sudirman Cup team manager Christian Hadinata said
the task of beating the Chinese at home was made more difficult
after Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir lost a tough opening mixed
doubles to Olympic champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling 12-15, 15-5,
15-8.
"It would have been very difficult for our women players to
win after we lost the opening match, one of our strengths,"
Christian told The Jakarta Post by phone from Beijing.
He credited his players for their "extraordinary" performance
in reaching the final, including a 3-0 win over Denmark in the
semifinals.
"We have to be positive that the team gave their maximum
performance to reach the final. To come this far is prestigious
in itself. The players did very well."
The Indonesian team is scheduled to return to Jakarta on
Monday night.
The second contest produced the match of the tournament, with
China's world number one Lin Dan taking on Taufik Hidayat, the
Athens Olympic gold medalist.
Both scampered around the court in a series of stunning
rallies. The 21-year-old Lin shot off to a 4-0 lead but after
that they matched each other shot for shot.
Lin, however, held his nerve to clinch the first game 17-15,
and then outthought his opponent to take the second game 15-9.
"I tried to play a more controlled game to try and force
Taufik into being impatient. I think it worked very well," said
Lin.
Zhang Ning, the women's world number two, sealed China's
victory with an 11-1, 11-7 demolition of Fransisca Hari, her
team's hero on Saturday in her decisive win over Camilla Sorensen
of Denmark.
China now holds all three of the sport's major team trophies
following last year's success at the Thomas Cup men's competition
and Uber Cup women's event.