Jaya Raya wins Inter-Club C'ship
Jaya Raya wins Inter-Club C'ship
By Novan Iman Santosa
BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan (JP): Top seed and favorite Jaya
Raya fulfilled its ambition to take over the crown from Djarum
Kudus of Central Java by winning 3-1 in the Inter-club National
Badminton Championship at the Hasanuddin HM Sport Hall on
Saturday.
Jaya Raya's mixed doubles Bambang Supriyanto and Indarti
Issoliana opened the path to victory by silencing Djarum Kudus'
Sigit Budiarto and Minarti Timur 15-12, 17-14 in the first match.
Lidya Djaelawidjaja contributed the second point after she
managed to use her skills and controlled the women's singles
match against Ellen Angelina to win 11-6, 11-1.
"I played without any burden today especially in the mixed
doubles win. If they had lost earlier, I could have played under
pressure," Lidya told reporters after the match.
Being downed 0-2 made Djarum men's singles player Johan
Hadikusuma perform outstandingly. However, he had to extend
himself before eliminating Jaya Raya's junior Taufik Hidayat 17-
15, 15-10.
About 3,000 spectators failed to hide their disappointment
knowing that the Jaya Raya junior was not the same teen-idol
Taufik Hidayat as they had expected. The world ranked five Taufik
had flown back to Jakarta after his club Sangkuriang Graha Sarana
of Bandung crashed in the semifinals.
Jaya Raya sealed its victory thanks to Olympics gold medalists
Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan who easily overpowered Antonius
and Eng Hian 15-3, 15-6.
The women's doubles match between Jaya Raya's Deyana Lomban
and Indarti and Etty Tantri and Minarti of Djarum Kudus was not
featured as it was no longer decisive.
Jaya Raya coach Retno Kustiyah pointed at Lidya's success in
her team's victory.
"With Lidya's win, we secured two important points because we
had predicted losing one point in the men's singles."
Junior results
In the Junior Individual Championships, staged in conjunction
with the event, East Kalimantan shuttlers broke the domination of
Java-based players by grabbing the boys doubles title through
their Bandung-based pair of Yusuf Ahmad and Robby Istantio.
Yusuf and Robby defeated Yan Pieter and Tri Heru of Jakarta
17-16, 15-12.
"The Jakarta pair have more power but lack speed which we
took advantage of," Yusuf told reporters after the match. "We had
full concentration on the match because we have met them earlier
so we knew their type of game."
East Kalimantan coach Iskandar said the winning pair's
physical fitness was not up to the national championships.
"While in Bandung they were given more technical and skills
training but less physical drills so we worked on their physical
stamina only three weeks prior to the event."
Another East Kalimantan's pair of Yusuf and Fermy Keintjem
failed to make another victory as they bowed out 9-15, 9-15
before West Java's Hendra and Lina Marlina in mixed doubles
match.
Jakartans Dewi Sukma and Rani Mundiasih took the girls doubles
title after ousting West Java's Monika and Lita Nurlita 15-1, 15-
10.
"Monika and Lita didn't have warm up enough before the first
game so they lost easily. But in the second game they gave their
best fight," West Java's coach Nara Sudjana said.
Second seeded Ardiansyah of Jakarta pumped out his energy to
topple boys singles top seed Sonny Dwi Kuncoro of East Java, the
2000 World Championships finalist and Asian Championships
finalist, 15-11, 2-15, 15-4.
"I have warned Sonny that he and Ardiansyah have a similar
attacking style so he must be careful with his smashes. Sonny
must also improve his defense," East Java's coach Aji Santoso
said.
The girls singles title went to Central Javanese Dian Novita
who defeated teammate Maria Christine 11-8, 11-5.