Indonesia nets badminton team titles at Games
By Primastuti Handayani
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Indonesia beat old nemesis Malaysia 3-0 in the Southeast Asian Games men's badminton team final on Tuesday in a tie which closely resembled their long-standing Thomas Cup rivalry.
The gold completed Indonesia's double of team titles after the national women's squad trounced Thailand by the same score earlier in the day to keep intact its two-decade-long supremacy.
Ronny Agustinus, making his debut, clinched the gold medal for the Indonesian men after a nail-biting 15-8, 5-15, 15-10 win over Malaysian veteran Rashid Sidek.
Taufik Hidayat put the team 1-0 ahead after a surprisingly lop-sided 15-5, 15-2 defeat of Commonwealth Games champion Wong Choon Han. The pairing of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian opened up the lead to 2-0 with a hard-earned 15-3, 9-15, 15-12 win over the duo of Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook.
"When I won the first set, I thought it might be because the wind was on my side of the stadium, so I prepared myself for a tougher match in the second game. But Wong played recklessly and I was also surprised that I could win that game easily," said Taufik, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Tuesday.
"I think Wong is a bit moody. When he is in a bad mood, he plays very poorly, worse than his usual form," the All England finalist said.
The match of the day was the doubles, which saw Flandy and Eng Hian play erratically to drop a game but then come back strongly to unleash a flurry of attacks for the win.
"In the second game, Lee and Choong changed their tactics by drilling cross-court drop shots. We were left in doubt because of the wind inside the stadium which affected the direction of shuttlecock," Eng Hian said of the second-game loss.
The meaningless final two matches in the best-of-five contest were scrapped.
The team received their gold medals from former Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) chairman Try Sutrisno, who is also a former Indonesian vice president, amid noisy cheers from nearly 300 supporters who packed the Hassanal Bolkiah indoor stadium.
Women's event
Except for the deciding doubles match, the Indonesian women experienced little trouble in overcoming the Thai opposition.
The pairing of Cynthia Tuwankotta and Etty Tantri were forced to play an extra game before clinching Indonesia's gold medal with a 15-9, 6-15, 15-2 win over Sujitra Eakmongkolpaisarn and Saralee Toongthongkam.
Etty blamed the second-game loss to inconsistent play.
"We should have not made so many unforced errors in the second game. Our opponents pushed us to raise the pace and that led us to lose control of the shuttlecock," Etty said.
"We shouldn't have played a deciding game, but at least it let us know their strengths and weaknesses."
The Indonesian pair forced the rallies and dictated the match as the Thais ran out of steam in the deciding game.
The two remaining matches were not played.
First singles Cindana Hartono played patiently to tame Sujitra Eakmongkolpaisarn 11-6, 11-1. She was not forced to use all her technical expertise in the easy win.
The players are tied 2-2 in head-to-head meetings.
"Sujitra played really well today and I think it was not easy to beat her," Cindana said.
Second singles Lidya Djaelawidjaja trounced Satinee Jankrajangwong 11-0, 11-2.
Deputy team manager Retno Kustiyah praised Lidya's nearly flawless performance.
"Lidya has gained self-confidence. She was aggressive at the net. She made few unforced errors and her drops and cross-court placements gave her victory," she said.
"Satinee is actually a good player, but she still needs time to reach a world-class standard."