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Jakarta Post

Hendra, Ahsan preserve Indonesia'€™s hopes for world title

Saving the day: Mohammad Ahsan celebrates with his partner Hendra Setiawan after defeating Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon-seong of South Korea in their semifinal match at the Total BWF World Championship at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday

Irawaty Wardany (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, August 16, 2015

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Hendra, Ahsan preserve Indonesia'€™s hopes for world title Saving the day: Mohammad Ahsan celebrates with his partner Hendra Setiawan after defeating Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon-seong of South Korea in their semifinal match at the Total BWF World Championship at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday. The Indonesian pair won 21-17, 21-19 to advance to the final.(JP/Seto Wardhana) (JP/Seto Wardhana)

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span class="inline inline-center">Saving the day: Mohammad Ahsan celebrates with his partner Hendra Setiawan after defeating Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon-seong of South Korea in their semifinal match at the Total BWF World Championship at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday. The Indonesian pair won 21-17, 21-19 to advance to the final.(JP/Seto Wardhana)

Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan salvaged Indonesia a ticket to the final at the Total BWF World Championship after beating their South Korean archrivals Lee Yong-dae/Yoo Yeon-seong at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, on Saturday.

The Indonesian pair lived up to the nation'€™s expectations by stopping their opponents 21-17, 21-19. They will face Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan of China in the final.

Their success came as a relief after fellow teammates failed in their efforts earlier.

Lindaweni, in her attempt to give Indonesia a women'€™s singles title for the first time since Susi Susanti garnered her title in 1993 [not 2003 as reported earlier], limped out of the court due to a leg injury against Indian'€™s Saina Nehwal.

The injury took a toll on her, but she played out her game, losing 21-17, 21-17 to the second- seeded Indian.

'€œWhen I was asked whether to continue the match, I just said I would try. I did everything I could,'€ Lindaweni, whose march to the semifinals had already gone beyond expectations, said. She talked to reporters on a stretcher.

She said that she tried to focus on the game instead of the injury. '€œI just kept trying because I thought I still had a chance'€.

Overall, she said that she was satisfied with her performance during the world championship.

'€œI still advanced to the semifinals. It feels like all the hard work I put into my training paid off,'€ she said, smiling.

Nehwal set up the final match against defending champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who defeated world number eight Sung Ji-Hyun of South Korea 21-17, 15-21, 21-16.

Sunday'€™s final will be the first in decades without a Chinese player in women'€™s singles.

Mixed doubles champions in 2013 Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir put in a dreadful performance, particularly in the third game, as they conceded a 20-22, 23-21, 21-12 loss to archrivals Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei of China.

It will be an all-Chinese final with Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin winning their semifinal match.

After taking the first game, the Indonesian pair had the chance to wrap up the match when focus seemed to desert them.

'€œWe lost our composure at that point. We were nervous. But we have to admit that our opponents played really well,'€ Tontowi said.

Liliyana admitted that it was too hard to recover from the second game loss.They simply failed to emulate their winning performance in Guangzhou, China, two years ago. They skipped last year'€™s tournament in Copenhagen, Denmark, due to injury sustained by Tontowi after the Australian Championships.

'€œWe tried to forget the second game loss, but we could not. We were so close to taking the match. We tried to focus in the third like we did in the first round but we went blank a few times,'€ Liliyana said.

In the men'€™s singles event, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who is back from serving an eight-month suspension for doping, moved closer to winning his first world title with defending champion Chen Long as his opponent in the final. Chen brushed aside young Japanese hopefuls Kento Momota 21-9, 21-15.

Chong Wei secured his spot after defeating world number two Jan O. Jorgensen of Denmark.21-7, 21-19.

'€œNot much to say about the first set. You could say that I forgot how it is to play Lee Chong Wei. I forgot the pace and the speed he has. Nobody else in the world has that speed,'€ Jorgensen said.

Chong Wei, on the other hand, said that he did not expect to win as easily as he did.

'€œI prepared myself mentally. I told myself that this will be my last match, I don'€™t think there will be a match tomorrow, so that I can focus,'€ he said.

Denmark is still harboring hope to leave the championship with a title, as Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl won their match against Japan'€™s Naoko Fukuman/Kurumi Yonao 21-12, 21-15. They will take on Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei, who beat home hopefuls Nitya Krishinda Maheswari/Greysia Polii 21-8, 21-16.

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