Top-seeded Sony beats Wong for title, second gold
Top-seeded Sony beats Wong for title, second gold
John Pye, Associated Press, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Top-seeded Sony Dwi Kuncoro collected his second badminton gold
medal for Indonesia at the 22nd Southeast Asian (SEA) games on
the back of a 10-point run in Friday's 15-8, 15-5 final win
against world No. 4 Wong Choong Hann.
Wong Mew Choo became the first Malaysian winner of the women's
SEA Games singles title since 1975 with an 11-5, 11-5 win over
Thailand's Salakjit Ponsana.
The 20-year-old Wong, No. 102 in the international women's
rankings, had upset top-seeded Li Li of Singapore in the
semifinals.
Wong, who hadn't been past the round of 16 in any major
tournament in the last 12 months, said she'd been surprised to
make the final, so the gold medal was a bonus.
Malaysia was guaranteed another gold with two teams contesting
the men's doubles final.
In the men's singles, Kuncoro withstood comebacks by Wong
Choong Hann in both games, but won five consecutive points to
wrap up the first and then went on a double-digit winning roll on
serve after the Malaysian had rallied to level at 5-5 in the
second.
The 2002 Asian Championships titlist moved to match point when
Wong missed a service return and then finished the one-hour,
seven-minute final when the Malaysian's high clear dropped well
over the baseline.
Kuncoro went into the SEA Games with three consecutive losses
to Wong, including the quarterfinals at the world championships
in July - when Wong reached the final - and the final of the
Taiwan Open last month.
But he said his win over Wong in the opening singles match of
the Indonesian men's team semifinal victory over Malaysia had
given him confidence ahead of the individual events.
"I had nothing to worry about, nothing to lose," he said. "I
was relaxed and knew I could improve" in the final. "It's a happy
way to finish off the year."
Indonesia beat Thailand 3-1 in the men's team final on Monday.
Kuncoro reached the singles final with a 15-8, 15-1 win over
defending champion Roslin Hashim of Malaysia. Wong advanced on a
15-3, 7-5, 15-9 win over Singapore's Ronald Susilo.
The Malaysians consequently took silver and bronze, with
Susilo claiming a bronze for Singapore.
The minor medals in the women's singles went to Ponsana from
Thailand and Singapore pair Li Li and Jian Yan Mei.
In the men's doubles, Chew Choon Eng and Chang Kim Wai faced
fellow Malaysians Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook.
The women's doubles final was an all-Indonesian contest, with
Jo Novita and Lita Nurlita against Eny Erlangga and Lilyana
Natsir.
Thailand's Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkham face
Anggun Nugroho and Eny Widyowati in the mixed doubles final.