Indonesia's great escape to win the first Sudirman Cup

Indonesia's great escape to win the first Sudirman Cup

Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Five minutes can make a world of difference. As Susy Susanti
sat in a corner of Istora Senayan stadium during the mid-match
break, listening to her coach's advice for the final game against
South Korean Lee Young Suk, she expected a fight to the end.

It was a case of do-or-die for Susy, then 18, to keep alive
Indonesia's chances of taking the inaugural Sudirman Cup mixed
team championship on May 28, 1989.

The home crowd had streamed into the Senayan arena -- site of
some of the country's great Thomas Cup men's team competition
triumphs, as well as the notorious Scheele disqualification
incident in 1967 -- expecting a popular victory on the Sunday
evening.

Indonesia was favored to win, having beaten the Koreans 4-1 in
preliminary round-robin matches, followed by a 5-0 trouncing of
Denmark in the semifinals.

The victory would be especially fitting for the championship
was named after the man responsible for steering the country to
its greatest international badminton triumphs.

But the Koreans, who upset the fancied Chinese team in the
semifinals, showed they were not content to settle for second
best.

Men's doubles pair Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan and women's
doubles Verawaty Fajrin and Yanti Kusmiati lost to the visitors,
putting the home side in a precarious position.

Indonesia was confident that Susy, the former world junior
champion who had reached the All-England women's final earlier in
the year, would keep the tie alive. Two days previously, she
outlasted Lee in the preliminary round match, saving a match
point in the process.

Instead of a comfortable win, however, it would turn out to be
a dramatic contest of see-sawing fortunes, climaxing with a
startling incident.

"I started well, and I remember reaching 10-7 in the first
game but she forced it to deuce, and then won 12-10," Susy said
from her home in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.

After nearly 16 years, Susy's memory may be fuzzy on the
details of the match; contemporary accounts have her leading 10-2
before her lead was whittled away.

In the second game, Lee continued to hold the momentum,
surging to 10-2 and then with serve at 10-7 -- match point for
South Korea to take the title.

Susy took a deep breath and focused on keeping the shuttle in
play.

"I knew I had to take it one point at a time, just do my best.
I began winning points again, and maybe she tried to end it too
quickly. I managed to force another tiebreak, and this time I
took it."

Susy recollected that some disappointed spectators had walked
out of the stadium during the second game. As she returned to
court after the break for the final game, people, hearing of her
comeback, were returning to the stands.

She also quickly noticed that her opponent was distraught.

"When she came back, she looked sad and confused. I could see
her eyes were red from crying. I knew that I had to keep up the
pressure on her, not give her any chances to get back into the
game. I wanted to finish the match the best way I could."

Susy swept to victory in seven minutes without losing a point;
The Jakarta Post's comment the following day was that the Korean
"... seemed to have little appetite for a fight".

Her victory opened the way for Indonesia to take the title.
Eddy Kurniawan beat Han Kok-sung in the men's singles and Eddy
Hartono and Verawaty won the mixed to take the cup.

As Indonesia celebrated, stories were already circulating
about what caused Lee's public meltdown -- that she had received
a blistering scolding from her coach during the break and, some
said, been slapped for failing to convert on match point.

Heavy-handed coaching is nothing new in badminton or other
sports, but the treatment reportedly meted out to Lee -- at such
an important event -- caused considerable debate.

"I didn't know what had happened to her during the break,
because we were in different areas of the stadium. But people
said her coach was angry and had slapped her," Susy said.

"I never experienced anything like that again. The thought of
someone being hit by their coach, especially a girl, when our
parents would not even do something like that, was shocking!"

Susy, who went on to become the 1992 Olympic gold medalist,
four-time All-England winner and 1993 World champion before
retiring in 1998, said she never thought about the "what if?" of
losing to Lee.

"I've always just wanted to do my best. It would not have been
a problem if I lost, because I always tried to learn from losing.
But winning the match that way probably gave me the motivation to
set higher goals, and also greater confidence to compete in the
top ranks."