Indonesia falls short of winning two

Musthofid ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Johor Bahru, Malaysia   |  Mon, 04/21/2008 12:54 AM  |  Headlines

Indonesia came short of making it a double win while South Korea and China shared the honor with two titles each at the Badminton Asia Championship that ended Sunday in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

For Indonesia, it was a repeat performance of last year, thanks to Taufik Hidayat who skipped this year's championship.

Indonesia has never again equaled its 1996 feat in Surabaya when the team took four of five titles on offer at the competition.

Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa delivered the sole victory for Indonesia after defeating compatriots Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir 21-17, 21-17 on the day, which turned out to be an anti-climax for Nova.

Nova had set his sights on two titles, but missed both as he also lost the fight earlier in the men's doubles with Candra Wijaya. Their pairing was tested to the utmost and finally fell apart under the Korean's swinging barrel.

China dominated the women's competition, courtesy of Jiang Yanjiao in singles and Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen in doubles. Korea produced victories in the men's category with Park Sung-hwan in the singles and Jung Jae-sung/Lee Yong-dae in the doubles.

With not a single home player on the playing scene, attendance came far from filling up the stadium's capacity of 7,000 seats.

During the men's doubles contest, scores of Indonesian supporters were cheering noisily in support of Candra and Nova but their hopes for a boosted performance from their players went unfulfilled.

Candra and Nova paired just recently and beat the odds by reaching the finals, but against in-form Jae-sung and Yong-dae, the week-long workout proved to be too short.

The Koreans have been on their peak this year by winning two Super Series titles. They kept their consistency, notably during a semifinals three-game win over Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong whom they also beat in the finals at the All England and Swiss Open.

The Koreans showed yet again their composure against the Indonesian scratch pair. They did not relent in pressuring with their speed and power while they did not easily crack from the opposing attack either.

Coach Reony Mainaky saw Indonesia's defensive loophole on Nova.

"Nova gets used to playing in mixed (doubles). It's different between playing in mixed (doubles) and (men's) doubles. He was caught flatfooted by the opponents' fast attacking foray," Reony said.

He said Nova tended to be moving a few steps back of Candra, causing the latter to suffer from having to cover more space.

The Indonesian pair was trailing half the points scored by their opponents when the game resumed after a 20-second coaching break. Candra and Nova committed mistakes one after another, which helped the Koreans, boosted by Jae-sung's drilling smashes, preserve the massive lead.

The Indonesians tried to move up with their own unchallenged smashes but they didn't come near to threatening the Koreans' defensive armor.

They took initiative early in the second game, but failed to cling on to take advantage as the Koreans did not loosen their attacking grip.

They once took over the lead but the Koreans liquidated almost immediately and did not give their Indonesian opponents another chance to raise their game.

"We are happy that we won. I know Nova is a mixed doubles (specialist) so we were focusing on him," Jae-sung said.

Despite the failure in the finals, Candra said he was content enough with what they achieved.

"It's a good result that we could go this far. It might have been too shocking if we had won."

Badminton Asia Championship finals

Results from the finals at the Badminton Asia Championship in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Sunday:
Park Sung-hwan (Kor) v Chen Jin (Chn) 21-18, 21-18
Jiang Yanjiao (Chn) v Wang Lin (Chn) 18-21, 21-18, 21-13
Jung Jae-sung/Lee Yong-dae (Kor) v Candra Wijaya/Nova Widianto (Ina) 21-16, 21-18
Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen (Chn) v Cheng Wen Hsin/Chien Yu Chin (Tpe) 22-20, 21-16
Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa (Ina) v Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir 21-17, 21-17

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