Firdasari outstanding in Indonesia's loss to Korea in Uber Cup

Firdasari outstanding in Indonesia's loss to Korea in Uber Cup

Zakki P. Hakim and Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

Indonesia's hopes for Uber Cup victory were dashed in the
quarterfinals at the hands of South Korea, but the home fans
packing the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium had been realistic about
their chances and applauded their shuttlers at the end of the
match here on Wednesday.

Indonesia's young girls were beaten 1-3 and were denied a
place in the semifinals.

Despite the exit, Adrianti Firdasari undoubtedly enjoyed the
limelight during that afternoon match-up, scoring the only point
for Indonesia.

With Indonesia 2-0 behind after two matches were completed,
Firdasari registered a hard-fought 9-11, 11-6, 11-7 win over Lee
Yun-hwa, thus providing the hosts with a chance to force the
Koreans to a decider.

Earlier, Silvi Antarini was defeated by Jun Jae-youn 11-4, 11-
1 and Maria Kristin was trampled by Seo Yoon-hee 11-5, 11-9 to
hand the Koreans the driving seat.

However, Jo Novita and Lita Nurlita fell five points short of
making it to 2-2 in the match against Lee Hyo-jung/Hwang Yu-mi.

After sharing the opening two games, Jo and Lita looked to be
heading for a win when they led 10-5. However, they let the lead
slip out of their hands, losing 14-17, 15-1, 15-12.

At the end, every spectator in the stadium couldn't agree more
that it was just not Jo and Lita's day, as after three games of
superb jumping smashes, excellent drives and accurate returns,
the Indonesians crashed out.

Korea will face Denmark, which had to play all five matches to
conquer the Netherlands 3-2.

After a dull performance of long rallies and numerous unforced
errors in the first two matches, Firdasari rose to her trademark
of aggressive play with accurately placed sharp and quick smashes
to catch up from 9-4 down to 9-9 in the first game against Lee.

However, the Korean steadied her pace to win 11-9.

The second game saw relatively tight play, but Firdasari raced
from a 6-6 to take the game 11-6 with her combination of sharp
crossing smashes.

Finally, thousands of home fans held their breath during the
third game before Firdasari sealed the game and the match 11-7.

Despite a commanding performance by his players, Korean team
manager Kim Jong-soo said that his team was fortunate to win the
match as they had not been sure of stealing a point from the
second singles and the first doubles.

Indonesia's singles coach Ivana Lie said that Silvi suffered
fatigue from her earlier three matches against all top players,
while her opponent had a relatively easier challenge in her
previous group matches.

She also said that Maria's problem was more psychological than
technical, and she had been trying to solve Maria's disadvantage.

Danish top player Camilla Martin lost to Yao Jie, but Denmark
still managed to scrape a 3-2 win over the Netherlands thanks to
winning runs by Tine Rasmussen in the singles, Rikke Olsen and
Ann Lou Jorgensen, and Mette Scholdager and Pernille Harder in
the doubles.

Defending champion China had no serious problem in tackling
Malysia, cruising to a 3-0 win.

China will be challenged by Japan which edged out Chinese
Taipei 3-2.