Weightlifters, shuttlers struggle in London

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Medals are waiting there until someone grabs them.

Indonesia may have an opportunity to seize a medal through weightlifter Muhammad Hasbi, who finished first in the men’s 62 kilogram Group B on Monday, after weightlifters Citra Febrianti and Jadi Setiadi failed in their efforts.

Citra, who competed in the women’s 53kg on Sunday, could only finished fourth, with a total lift of 206kg (91kg in the snatch and 115kg in the clean and jerk). She was 13kg behind Moldova’s bronze medalist Cristina Iovu.

Jadi, who finished second in the men’s 56kg Group B after lifting a total of 277kg, ended up in fifth place in the final round on Sunday.

In his group, Hasbi finished with a total lift of 301 kg (138 kg in the snatch and 163 kg in the clean and jerk).

Hasbi’s fate is yet to be decided as he has still to perform for the medal lift-off in his division.

Irawan Eko Yuli competes on Monday evening (early Tuesday Jakarta time) in the men’s 62kg Group A, and both weightlifters Deni and Triyatno will lift on Tuesday evening (early Wednesday Jakarta time) in the men’s 69 kg Group A.

Meanwhile, shuttler Adrianti Firdasari was forced to play three long sets against Belarus’ Alesia Zaitsava in the women’s singles at Wembley Arena, London, on Monday morning (afternoon Jakarta time).

Still recovering from the injury to her right foot, Indonesia’s only women’s singles shuttler won the battle 21-10, 16-21, 21-14, Antara news agency reported.

Firdasari took the first set but struggled in the second when her return hit the net.

The game of catch-up continued for Firdasari when she found herself 5-11 down in the third set, but revived to narrow the gap to 10-11.

Zaitsava’s three mistakes benefited the world’s 64th shuttler who shot ahead to lead 17-12.

Firdasari only gave Zaitsava two more opportunities to score before closing the game with a 21-14 triumph.

Coach Wong Tat Meng said Firdasari still needed to regain her rhythm if she wanted to win the next two qualifying matches.

“This is her first game coming back from injury. Her rhythm still looked poor. It should be better in the next game,” Malaysian Wong said as quoted by Antara after the match.

Firdasari’s injury forced her to quit early at the 2012 Indonesian Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament in June.

He said Firdasari played too fast in the first set, which affected her game in the second.

Firdasari agreed.

“I was too hurried whereas [my opponent] played by waiting for me to make my own mistakes,” she said.

“She gave me so many passes, which I was tricked into picking off. But what I did was in fact a suicide.”

Firdasari will now play Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva in the next match on Tuesday evening (early Wednesday Jakarta time).