Sudirman Cup flies far far away, again

Once again, the red-and-white squad will return home empty handed, as they failed to advance to the final of the Sudirman Cup Mixed Team World Championship after losing 3-1 to the Korean squad.

The South Korean team errupted in victory after Indonesia ’s shuttlecock hit the net, ending the second set of the match between Hendra Setiawan/ Mohammad Ahsan and Jung Jae Sung/Lee Yong Dae. The world No. 6 Korean pair triumphed over Indonesia 21-9, 21-19 in just half an hour.   

Despite loosing in the qualifing round against China ’s top duo Cai Yun/ Fu Haifeng, Hendra and Ahsan were again paired together to fight the Korean senior men’s doubles Jung/Lee in the semifinal.

Meanwhile, Hendra’s partner in the men’s doubles, Markis Kido, was benched beacuse of a prolonged knee injury.  

Hendra/Ahsan faced Jung/Lee in the fourth match of the semifinal on Saturday.

“They [the players] have fought. Hendra/ Ahsan played well enough early in the second match, but they got overwhelmed afterwards,” head of Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI)’s athlete development Lius Pongoh told The Jakarta Post after the fourth match, which the country lost 3-1 to South Korea.

Jung/ Lee played aggressively in the first round, quickly ending the game 21-9. In the second round, Hendra/Ahsan took the initiative to attack and led 13-9. However, Jung/Lee forced a tie at 15-15, finally winning the game 21-19.

“We are unfortunate as Kido and Maria Kristin (women’s single shuttler) have not recovered from their knee injuries,” deputy team manager Jacob Rusdianto told The Post.

“We apologize to the Indonesian public for this lost. Our players have given their absolute best, but the Korean team played really well,” Jacob said.

Indonesia managed only to snatch a single point from the men’s singles match, in which Sony Dwi Kuncoro defeated Park Sung Hwan 14-21, 21-15, 22-20 in an arduous one-hour-and-15-minute battle. Meanwhile, Maria Kristin Yulianti surrendered 21-23, 19-21 to Korean Hwang Hye Youn in the women’s singles competition in 47 minutes .

Indonesia ’s world No. 1 mixed doubles pair Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir, who opened the semifinal matches, also gave in 18-21 15-21 to Beijing Olympic gold medallists Lee Yong Dae/Lee Hyo Jung.

Malaysia, runners-up of the 1A subgroup, faced China, the champions of subgroup 1B late Saturday evening. The world badminton juggernaut China will likely advance to Sunday'd final against South Korea . China had recorded a perfect 5-0 score in all of its previous qualification matches against England, Japan and Indonesia .

China won the Sudirman Cup six times -- in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, and 2007 -- while South Korea snatched the trophy three times in 1991, 1993, and 2003. Despite being the country origin of the biannual championship, Indonesia has only won the cup once, in 1989, when the event took place for the first time.