I take the blame for the defeat: Chairul

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) has pleaded that members of the team should not point the finger of blame at each other for Indonesia's failure in the semifinals of the Thomas Cup badminton championship on Friday.

"If someone is responsible for the failure, I take the blame," PBSI chairman Chairul Tanjung said after the Indonesian men's team was defeated 3-2 by Denmark in a match that ended after midnight on Friday.

Chairul said that the team had tried hard to do its best. "It appears that the results were not as expected."

Indonesia's Thomas Cup team was denied a chance to retain the trophy for a sixth consecutive time in a thrilling encounter that completed the nation's woes after its women's team was denied a semifinal place at the hands of South Korea.

Indonesia's men were punished, largely because they flopped in the doubles matches.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro beat Peter Gade 15-4, 15-8. Taufik Hidayat defeated Kenneth Jonassen 15-5, 13-15, 15-7.

However, Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian, and Candra Wijaya/Tri Kusharjanto were both defeated by their respective opponents.

Flandy and Eng Hian entered the court with an edge in head-to- head terms but fell short of continuing their winning streak over world champions Jonas Rasmussen and Lars Paaske. Flandy and Eng Hian were beaten by the Danes 15-13, 15-7.

Candra and Trikus, who had only just paired up for the championship, did not look solid enough to withstand Jens Eriksen and Martin Lungaard, who won 15-10, 2-15, 15-4.

Chairul said that they had seemed unable to cope with the psychological burden of feeling obliged to win their matches, which resulted in their playing inconsistently.

"They conceded under heavy pressure during the matches," Chairul said.

That Indonesia failed to win a point from the doubles saddened team manager Christian Hadinata, himself a doubles player during his playing career.

"They should have contributed a point," he said.

Christian said poor defending brought about the defeat.

"Except for Flandy, the players defended terribly. They did not play as well as they usually do, particularly in defense. That caused the defeat," he said.

"They might have been affected by the pressure but I'm sure that high-quality players such as Flandy, Eng Hian, Candra and Trikus should have known how to cope with it."

Christian, who is also the national training center director, said that they would try to win the trophy back in Japan in two years' time.

Denmark's team manager, Flemming Wiberg, was delighted by the victory.

"The win is special for us. Not only have we been able to beat Indonesia on its own soil but the victory has broken the impasse we had before against the same team," Wiberg said, as quoted by Antara.

Before Friday's match, Denmark had lost in all of its 11 previous encounters with Indonesia in the Thomas Cup.

The success also made amends for Denmark's disappointment in the Uber Cup on Thursday, in which its women's team crashed in the semifinals to South Korea 3-2 from a 2-0 lead.

Wiberg said when Peter Gade suffered an unexpected defeat to Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the first match he could not help wondering whether they would be able to go through.

"It appeared that Flandy and Eng Hian did not find their best form: That's astonishing," he said.

With the score at 2-2, Peter Rasmussen sealed Denmark's victory with a 15-3, 15-13 win over Indonesia's young debutant and talented Simon Santoso.