Thomas Cuppers give RI first gold at Asian Games
Thomas Cuppers give RI first gold at Asian Games
HIROSHIMA, Japan (Agencies): Indonesia broke the duck and got into the gold medal winning club after a week of waiting at the Hiroshima Asian Games as its reigning Thomas Cup team won the prestigious men's title yesterday.
The Indonesians raced to a crushing 5-0 win over South Korea in a lopsided final after a stirring contest for the women's championship at the Tsuru Memorial Gymnasium.
The victory, the first men's team title after 20 years, ended a bitter 16-year drought of Asian Games badminton gold medal suffered by Indonesia, one of the world's powerhouses in the sport.
South Korea, however, denied the Indonesians a golden double when its tigerish women won an emotionally-charged final 4-1 to land its first Asian Games team title.
The two finals were a repeat of semifinals in the men's Thomas Cup and women's Uber Cup both of which Indonesia won to record a rare double. Indonesian men and South Korean women beat the reigning Asian Games champions China in the semifinals.
Both teams said they were satisfied with a gold and a silver. Chinese and Malaysian men and Chinese and Japanese women, the losing semifinalists, all won bronze medals.
"We are proud to win the first gold medal of the Games for Indonesia," said manager Lufti Hamid.
Disappointed
"We are of course disappointed at the women not becoming the champion. However, the Korean team performed extremely well and they deserved to win today. We want to congratulate them."
Korean coach Kim Jong-soo said the Indonesian men, with three players ranked among the top five and boasting the world's top doubles combination, were too powerful for any team.
World ranked number one Ardy Wiranata ensured a flying start for Indonesian men with a quick 15-8, 15-10 win over South Korea's top player Park Sung-woo, who won a bronze at the Asian championships.
He allowed Park to build a 9-0 lead in the second set before reeling him in and ending the match 15-8, 15-10.
Ardy's delicate flicks and exquisite drop shots, mixed with acrobatic dives for impossible returns left the 23-year-old soldier gaping. Park once even threw up his hands in despair.
Park, on the other hand, committed too many errors while the Indonesian played what he described as "safe badminton."
As he has done in his last two matches, world number two Joko Suprianto struggled and gave up a game before overcoming Kim Hak- kyun 11-15, 15-5, 15-8.
The world's top doubles combination of Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja then thrashed Ha Tae-kwon and Yoo Yong-sung 15-2, 15-8 to give Indonesia an unbeatable lead.
"This is for the country," Ardy exulted after the victory.
In the dead fourth match, the veteran Rudy Gunawan and Bambang Supriyanto bounced back from a first set deficit to beat Kang Kyung-jin and Lee Suk-ho 10-15, 18-14, 15-10 in the only serious contest of the final.
All England's two-time champion Hariyanto Arbi piled on the agony in the last match when he disdainfully brushed aside Ahn Jae-chang 15-3, 15-4.