Men's duo gives Indonesia its 1st medal
Men's duo gives Indonesia its 1st medal
ATLANTA, Georgia (Agencies): A beleaguered Indonesian badminton team was eventually given something to cheer on Tuesday when the men's doubles team of Antonius Irianto and Danny Kantono earned the country its first medal.
The duo's 15-4, 12-15, 15-8 win over Malaysia's Soo Beng Kiang and Tan Kim Her in the match for the bronze medal momentarily relieved Indonesia's agony after a series of defeats.
Making their Olympic debut as the third seeds, Antonius and Danny never let their opponents settle into the match. It was clear, however, that the Indonesians benefited greatly from a hatful of mistakes from their rivals in the deciding set.
A jubilant Denny fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands after Soo hit the shuttlecock wide to give the Indonesian pair victory.
A few hours earlier, world champion Hariyanto Arbi capped Indonesia's miserable day when he crashed out in his men's singles semifinal against second seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark in a repeat of the 1995 All-England final.
Hariyanto joined top seed Joko Suprianto and defending champion Alan Budikusuma as Indonesian casualties in this year's men's singles Olympics. All three were pre-match favorites, following their successful Thomas Cup title campaign in Hong Kong last May.
Hariyanto's departure leaves the men's singles medal race without any Indonesians, a stark contrast to Barcelona four years ago, when Alan triumphed in an all-Indonesian final.
At another point in Indonesia's gloomy day, Olympic women's singles champion Susi Susanti went out in a semifinal against her old foe Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea. But Indonesia kept its hopes of winning the crown alive, thanks to Mia Audina's three- set victory over another South Korean, Kim Ji-hyun.
Indonesia emerged as a mighty powerhouse in Barcelona by sweeping two golds and two silvers.
Comeback
All-England reigning champion Hoyer-Larsen, the oldest player in the men's singles competition at 31, lived up to his billing as master of the great comeback. He shrugged off Hariyanto's commanding 9-4 first-set lead to notch up a 15-11, 15-6 win in a match lasting under 50 minutes.
Hoyer-Larsen established a dominance at the net and maneuvered openings to hit beautifully disguised drives and smashes past the 24-year old Indonesian.
"I felt I was losing from the beginning - it was really difficult," said Hariyanto. "I was very nervous, so my serves were not good."
The Danish second seed took complete control in the second game, and his victory was his second in succession against an Indonesian, for his quarterfinal victim had been Alan.
Hoyer-Larsen, Europe's lone hope to break the Asian dominance of the badminton world, will play Dong Jiong of China in today's final. The Dane produced a miraculous comeback to beat Dong in their Thomas Cup semifinals in May.
Dong beat giant killer Rashid Sidek of Malaysia 15-6, 18-16 in the other semifinal. The Chinese fourth seed played at such high speed that Sidek, who conquered Joko in the quarterfinals, was blowing hard before the end.
"I could see him tiring," said Dong, "and then I felt very confident. I feel confident about gold as well."
South Korea has already made certain of winning the mixed doubles title, which is an Olympic event for the first time.
Park Joo-bong, the legendary doubles player who is making his second comeback just to try to win the new title, is within one victory of doing so.
Park and Ra Kyung-min outplayed a Chinese pair for the second match in succession, winning 15-10, 15-4 against Liu Jianjun and Sun Man.
Their opponents in the final are compatriots Kim Dong-moon and Gil Young-ah, who were also straight games victors against a Chinese combination, Chen Xingdong and Peng Xingyong.