Mia provides Indonesia with a final silver lining
Mia provides Indonesia with a final silver lining
ATLANTA, Georgia (Agencies): Indonesia's bid for a second gold in the Olympic Games came a cropper when its last hope, Mia Audina, fell to the more experienced Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea 6-11, 7-11 in the women's badminton singles final yesterday.
Mia, only 16 years old and making her Olympic debut, failed to match the tremendous burden resting on her shoulders to win the gold. Playing nervously from the outset, Mia opted for a less attacking game in a match highlighted by superb drop shots and dominance of the net from the All-England champion Bang.
In the men's singles final which followed the women's contest, fellow All-England champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark realized his dream of winning an Olympic gold when he beat Dong Jiong of China 15-12, 15-10 in a closely-fought match.
The women's final was sweet revenge for Bang whose attempt to win Olympic gold was thwarted by Indonesian badminton queen Susi Susanti in Barcelona four years ago. Bang toppled Susi in Tuesday's semifinals.
All-England champion Bang was so quick and powerful in attack, leaving ballerina-like Mia scrambling to come up with just flat replies. Mia was a real contender at the beginning of each set before the South Korean broke away, thanks in part to Mia's wide returns.
Bang reversed a 4-6 deficit in both sets into a commanding lead by winning several rallies in a row. It took her 45 minutes to fend off Mia's opposition in the match marred by several bad calls at the expense of the Indonesian.
"I thank God for this win and the Korean people who have always stood by me," Bang said.
The two players have met six times previously, and Mia has yet to win. The last time they met was in the Thai Open final last year. Then Mia reached match point but failed to convert it to victory.
With Bang's victory, South Korea will return home with two golds and two silvers from badminton after its mixed doubles pair of Park Joo-bong and Ra Kyung-min set up an all-South Korean final against Kim Dong-moon and Gil Young-ah.
Indonesia took a gold, a silver and two bronzes, a poor follow-up to its triumphs in 1992 when Susi and her fiancee Alan Budikusuma clinched the women's singles and men's singles crowns respectively.
The lone gold for badminton powerhouse Indonesia came from the men's doubles team of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, who beat Malaysia's Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock in a tense final on Wednesday.
Indonesia fielded 41 athletes in 11 sports in this year's Olympics with a target to win two golds from its favorite event, badminton.
Susi
Earlier yesterday, Susi gave Indonesia its second bronze medal, but her teammate Hariyanto Arbi flopped in the men's singles bronze medal match against Rashid Sidek of Malaysia.
Susi hardly broke sweat in her comfortable 11-4, 11-1 win over Kim Ji-hyun of South Korea that lasted only 30 minutes. "I had little trouble because I anticipated how the game would run," said Susi.
Indonesia's hopes of a third bronze rose when Hariyanto raced to a 15-5 lead against Sidek, but the Malaysian came back strongly to win the next two games 15-11, 15-6 in a match lasting 55 minutes.
Indonesia won its first bronze also from badminton when the combination of Antonius Irianto and Denny Kantono won their men's doubles play-off match against Malaysia's Soo Beng Kiang and Tan Kim Her on Tuesday.
Hariyanto's defeat means that Indonesian men's singles players will leave Atlanta empty handed. Buoyed by their Thomas Cup glory, they entered this year's Olympics as red hot favorites for the gold.
The 1992 Olympics saw Indonesia win all the medals in the men's singles.
Third seed Hariyanto charged from the start with his trade- mark smashes to sweep the opening set. He built up a 9-6 lead in the second, but lost heart after resilient Rashid forced a series of exhausting rallies to pull level at 11-11.
Badminton -- Page 13