Kido, Hendra get gold as b’day presents

Primastuti Handayani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Beijing   |  Sun, 08/17/2008 3:25 AM  |  Headlines

 

Indonesian men’s doubles Markis Kido (right) and Hendra Setiawan get the best birthday present ever: the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal, after dashing Chinese hopefuls Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng in a dramatic 49 minutes final match. (Antara)

Indonesian men’s doubles Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan get the best birthday present ever: the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal, after dashing Chinese hopefuls Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng 11-21, 21-12, 21-16 in a dramatic 49 minutes final match.

They contributed the first gold medal during this year’s Olympics and dedicated it to commemorate the country’s 63rd anniversary which falls Sunday.

After forcing for a rubber game, Kido and Hendra led comfortably 17-10 but began to commit unforced errors. The Chinese second seeds managed to earn two points before the Indonesian world champion moved closer to a match point. But Kido and Hendra rushed to end the game, resulting in four more points for the Chinese, barracked by some 7,000 spectators at the Beijing University of Technology here Saturday.

Hendra ensured Indonesia’s victory with his chop to the delight of the National Sports Council (KONI) chairwoman Rita Subowo and the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) head Sutiyoso.

“I’m very proud of contributing Indonesia’s first gold medal here. Tomorrow is our independence day celebration and I’m happy that we gave our country the best present. This medal is also our presents for our birthday,” said Kido. Kido’s birthday is Aug. 11 while Hendra’s Aug. 25.

“We fulfilled the hope of Indonesians to continue the gold medal tradition at the Olympics. We are proud that we followed the footsteps of Ricky (Subagdja) and Rexy (Mainaky) and Candra (Wijaya) and Tony (Gunawan),” he added.

Ricky and Rexy won the 1996 Atlanta Olympics while Candra and Tony grabbed the gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Meanwhile, Hendra who had planned to use his lucky racket – that he used to win last year’s world champion title – said that his victory had nothing to do with the racket as he broke it during the warm up.

“I didn’t use it. I just used my normal racket,” he said.

Both Kido and Hendra said that China might bring luck to them.

“We won the 2006 and 2007 China Open titles and now we won the Olympics. It’s a great experience and we are confident to play here,” Kido said.

Indonesia still has another gold medal hope on Sunday as mixed doubles top seed and double world champion Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir will meet South Koreans Lee Hyojung and Lee Yongdae in the final match. (***)

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