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Indonesia flops in team gold chase
The Indonesian badminton team extended an apology following the failure of its menâs team in quarterfinal matches against Chinese Taipei at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon, South Korea on Sunday
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he Indonesian badminton team extended an apology following the failure of its men's team in quarterfinal matches against Chinese Taipei at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon, South Korea on Sunday.
Tommy Sugiarto and teammates lost 1-3, following their female fellows who also exited the competition at the quarterfinal stage after a 3-0 defeat by Japan on Saturday.
'We apologize that we couldn't fulfill expectations. We will turn our focus to individual matches and we must be more prepared,' doubles specialist Angga Pratama said in a press release.
Angga and his partner Rian Agung Saputro failed to save Indonesia from defeat after they lost to Chen Hung Ling/Liao Min Chun 17-21, 18-21, which consigned Indonesia's exit.
Despite advancing to the quarterfinals without breaking a sweat after being awarded a bye, the red-and-white team apparently failed to capitalize on the benefit of having a longer rest time than its opponent, which had had to battle with Thailand to secure the quarterfinal ticket.
Indonesia found itself 0-2 down after Tommy and Jonathan Christie were beaten by their opponents. They lost to Chou Tien Chen and Hsu Jen Hao, 21-13, 19-21, 14-21 and 15-21, 17-21, respectively.
Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan provided a lifeline with a hard-fought 21-19, 21-18 win over Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin. But hopes for a second win to force the tie to a fifth match did not materialize, with Rian and Angga ending up the losers in the fourth match.
'We were too cautious while our opponents played well,' he said, adding that feeling burdened was inevitable but that he refused to blame it on the defeat.
The fifth match would have played Ihsan Maulana Mustofa against Hsueh Hsuan Yi.
On Saturday, the women's team also had to abandon its medal hopes after crashing to Japan 3-0 in a close encounter in which two of the matches had to go to a rubber game.
Chinese Taipei will take on South Korea, which pipped Japan 3-2. The other semifinal will pair China against Malaysia. Both beat Hong Kong and Nepal, each with 3-0 wins.
Korea's win was decided in the fifth match, in which Lee Hyun-il fought back from a game down to brush aside Takuma Ueda 14-21, 21-18, 21-9.
Indonesia will now turn to the individual matches, which start on Wednesday with five gold medals up for grabs.
