RI crushes S. Korea for Sudirman final

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian shuttlers were only one step away from fulfilling their dream of bringing home the Sudirman Cup, after crushing South Korea 3-1 on Friday at the San Pablo Stadium in Seville, Spain.

Indonesia last reached the Sudirman Cup final in 1995 but had to bow out to defending champion China.

Competing while their country is gripped by political tension, all shuttlers contributed strong performances.

Indonesia fielded an unexpected line-up, particularly in the mixed and women's doubles events.

Tri Kusherjanto and Vita Marissa, who had not played in the round-robin earlier, bowed out to Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min 15-7, 15-7 in a 45-minute battle.

World number three Taufik Hidayat managed to tie the teams' scores at 1-1 after easily eliminating new star Lee Hyun-il 15- 11, 15-5 in 39 minutes.

The decisive women's singles match featured world number 49 Lidya Djaelawidjaja and world number 35 Jun Jae-youn. Lidya was downed 4-11 in the first game but managed to bounce back to win the second 11-9.

In the do-or-die game, Lidya and Jun raced neck-and-neck, but the 26-year-old Indonesian managed to seal the match 13-12, ending a 66-minute struggle.

In the men's doubles, Olympic gold medalists Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya repeated their success in Sydney by crushing Olympic silver medalists Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung 15-5, 15- 7 in only 39 minutes.

The indecisive women's doubles match, between Deyana Lomban and Etty Tantri and Koreans Lee Kyung-won and Ra Kyung-min, was not played.

"The shuttlers showed their best performances in a tremendous semifinal fight, thanks to our preparation back home," team manager Karsono told The Jakarta Post over the phone from Seville.

"Thank goodness God was with us. His presence was very clear and we could all feel it here."

Head coach Christian Hadinata could not hide his satisfaction from the shuttlers performances. He pointed out that the critical point was Lidya's singles victory.

"Lidya had to win her match to ensure our victory for the final, and she did it. If she lost, we would have probably lost the round because South Korea's women's doubles are definitely stronger than ours.

"South Korea would have taken the points from the mixed doubles, women's singles and women's doubles. That's why Lidya played an important role in the semifinals.

"Coach Verawati Fadjrin gave her special instructions but I could only shout to her to hang in there," Christian said.

"I was very relaxed and did not have any stress before the match because I knew I was the underdog," Lidya was quoted as saying by AFP.

"But when I started to win points I got more confident. I just tried and tried my best and hoped that I could win," added Lidya, who fought back from 9-7 down in the deciding game to win.

No intention

Christian also said Korea would have definitely won the mixed doubles but it was not the reason behind playing Tri Kusherjanto and Vita Marissa.

"No, we didn't intentionally concede the mixed doubles, but we must give Tri a chance to play. It's important for all shuttlers to adapt to the court as part for our finals preparation.

"We cannot be forced to field Minarti Timur all the time because she would be very tired. Besides, it's very difficult to win over the Koreans mixed doubles," he said.

Christian remained tight-lipped on Indonesia's line-up for Saturday's final, saying he had to evaluate Friday's performance first.

"We must have a meeting based on the shuttlers' performance before we set the line-up. Besides, we don't know who our opponent in the final is yet," he said.

In the remaining semifinal, to be played at 6.00 p.m. local time (11.00 p.m. Jakarta time), China will face Denmark.

The match will begin with the mixed doubles, pitting Olympic gold medalists Zhang Jun and Gao Ling against Danish world number one Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen.

Women's singles player Gong Zhichao will face Camilla Martin, followed by the men's singles match between Chen Hong and world number two Peter Gade Christensen.

In the women's doubles, Gao Ling and Huang Sui will meet Ann- Lou Jorgensen and Mette Schjoldager, while the men's doubles will see Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen play Zhang Jun and Zhang Wei.

Xinhua reported that China's head coach Li Yongbo expressed anger on Thursday over the chief umpire's arrangement of a tight semifinal and final schedule for the team.

"Our semifinal match could go until midnight on Friday. We would have only 12 hours to recover before the start of the final (on Saturday at 1.00 p.m. local time). That's too tough for our players," Li Yong said. (nvn/yan)