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