RI third in junior badminton meet
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesian young shuttlers had to settle for third place three consecutive times after defeating Chinese Taipei 3-1 in the team competition playoff at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Richmond, Canada, on Sunday (Monday morning Jakarta time).
Meanwhile, defending champion China, which beat Indonesia in the semifinals, landed the trophy with a 3-0 win over South Korea in the finals.
The annual event uses play format identical to its senior version of Sudirman Cup with a matchup comprising boys' singles and doubles, girls' singles and doubles, and mixed doubles.
During the playoff, mixed doubles Mohamad Rizal and Greysia Polii opened Indonesia's victory by defeating Chinese Taipei's pair Lee Sheng-Mu and Cheng Shao-Chieh 15-13, 11-15, 15-13, according to www.badmintonbc.com.
Tommy Sugiarto doubled the lead with a 8-15, 15-13, 15-12 win over Chu Han-Cou in the boy's singles match.
In the girl's singles match, Francisca Ratnasari failed to seal Indonesia's victory early as she lost 11-3, 11-9 to Cheng Shao-Chieh.
Greysia Polii and Heny Budiman finally wrapped up the victory after winning 15-8, 15-8 over Hsieh Pei Chen and Tsai Pei Ling in the girls' doubles match.
Meanwhile, Chen Jin decided China's 3-0 victory over South Korea with an easy 15-3, 15-9 win in the boys' singles match over Lee Cheol-ho.
Previously, mixed doubles Shen Ye and Feng Chen won 15-6, 15-7 over Lee Yong-dae/Park Song-hee before girls' singles Jiang Yanjiao made it a 2-0 lead by overcoming Jang Soo-young 13-10, 11-3.
For Indonesia, it appeared its third, third-place finish in a row after tournaments in Guangzhou, China, and Petroria, South Africa.
Indonesian team comprises six boys: Markus Wijanu, Ari Yuli Wahyu, Mohamad Rizal, Ahmad Rivai, I Made Agung and Tommy Sugiarto; and six girls: Greysia Polii, Heny Budiman, Francisca Ratnasari, Nitya Krishinda, Wiwis Meliana and Yuan Kartika.
They scored a convincing 5-0 win over Canada and Russia in group matches. They continued their winning streak with a 3-1 over Denmark in the sub-group match before succumbing to a 3-0 loss to China.
The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) chief in charge of development affairs Icuk Sugiarto praised the squad's performance, saying the result had come to their expectation.
"It's a good achievement for our shuttlers given that they don't have much international experience compared to their Chinese opponents," Icuk told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The competition features young players from China, Chines Taipei, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Peru, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, USA and Canada.
Play in individual category follows until Oct. 30.