RI downs Danes to meet China in Sudirman Cup final
RI downs Danes to meet China in Sudirman Cup final
Agencies Beijing
It was expected to be a battle to the finish, but instead Indonesia handily defeated Denmark 3-0 on Saturday to reach the final of the Sudirman Cup badminton mixed team championship.
Indonesia, whose only title came in the inaugural event in Jakarta in 1989, will meet host team China on Sunday at Beijing's Capital Gymnasium.
The Chinese beat defending champions South Korea 3-0.
Indonesia got off to the perfect start in the mixed doubles, with Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir handing down a comprehensive 15-4, 15-7 thrashing of error-prone Jens Eriksen and Kamilla Juhl.
In the tense second match, Athens Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat outfought former world number one Peter Gade 15-10, 15-3.
Although little was expected of the low-ranked Indonesian women, Fransisca Ratnasari Hari came back from a first-game loss to beat Danish rookie Camilla Sorensen 3-11, 11-8, 11-2.
With Indonesia holding a winning lead, the men's doubles and women's doubles were not played.
Coaches from both teams agreed that the opening win was the key to the Indonesian victory.
"We saw the mixed doubles as very much the key match," said Danish head coach Steen Pedersen, who had predicted a 3-2 win for his team.
"We couldn't get going and that affected the rest of the team, but we just have to admit that the Indonesian team played much better than us today and deserved to get to the finals."
"It was very important to win the mixed doubles," said Indonesian coach Hendrawan.
The tie might have turned if Gade had won. The Dane held a 7-3 head-to-head record against Taufik going into the match, but had lost their last two encounters at the 2005 Japan Open and 2004 Olympics.
Gade played catch-up through most of the opening game, but was disturbed by an out call on a lob at 10-11. After Taufik went on to take the first game, Gade slammed his racket down.
From then on he was unable to regain his composure as the match slipped away from him.
"I was very confident against Gade because I beat him at the Olympics," said Taufik.
Indonesian team manager Christian Hadinata, surprised at the ease of victory, said it would be a much sterner test on Sunday.
He insisted, however, that Indonesia had the firepower to cope with whatever China threw at them.
"As long as all our players play like they did today then we are confident that we can win tomorrow," Christian said.
His comments were echoed by Taufik, who is expected to face his fierce Chinese rival Lin Dan, the world number one.
"I had the confidence to beat Peter Gade today and I have the confidence to beat Lin Dan tomorrow," he said.