RI crashes out in Sudirman semis

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian mixed badminton team failed to reach the final of the Sudirman Cup after losing 3-1 to China at the Indoor Sportcentrum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands on Saturday afternoon.

The result was worse than the 2001 edition of the Sudirman Cup when Indonesia was beaten by China in the finals in Seville, Spain.

Indonesia's only point was secured by Taufik Hidayat when he defeated Bao Chunlai in the men's singles match, as reported by the tournament's official website www.toernooi.nl.

Taufik, however, did not get the victory easily as he had to concede the first game 7-15. Taufik was also reportedly hampered by nagging ankle injuries.

The remaining two games were not won easily as Taufik had to work hard before winning 15-12, 15-13.

In the women's singles match, second stringer Maria Kristin did not surrender easily and gave her best before bowing 8-11, 8- 11 to Zhou Mi.

Indonesia's fate was sealed when its strongest men's doubles pair of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto were unable to produce their best performance.

Candra and Sigit were defeated 10-15, 11-15 to Cai Yun and Zhang Wei to give the Chinese team a 2-1 lead.

The Indonesian men's doubles pair, together with Taufik, was expected to grab a crucial point as Indonesia does not have a strong women's contingent at present.

It was predicted earlier that both Indonesia and China would share the points at 2-2 after 4 matches and the winner would be decided in the fifth match of mixed doubles.

Trailing 1-2, Indonesian women's doubles pair of Lita Nurlita and Jo Novita could do nothing against their more experienced opponents of Wei Yili and Zhou Mi.

The Indonesian girls were defeated 9-11, 2-11.

China's 3-1 victory meant that the mixed doubles match between Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa against Zhang Jun and Gao Ling did not need to be played.

China will face the winner of the second semifinals between Denmark and South Korea later in the evening.