T

ontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir’s loss in the mixed doubles semifinals on Saturday, marks an end to Indonesian hopes of bringing home gold from the China Superseries badminton tournament’s honors.

The Indonesian pair lost to Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying 19-21, 14-21 in 36 minutes, according to www.tournamentsoftware.com.

Indonesia fielded two men’s singles athletes, two women’s singles competitors, a men’s doubles pair, three women’s doubles pairs and three mixed doubles pairs, all of whom were stopped mostly in early stages.

The defeat denied Tontowi and Liliyana the chance to repeat their winning performance at All England in March. They were close to taking home a doubles title in Denmark last month, but they fell to Chinese opponents in the final.

The Shanghai wash out summed up the Indonesian team’s dismal performance this year, which included the debacle in the Thomas Cup and the Olympics.