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ndonesia has failed to reach the semifinals of the Blibli.com Yonex-Sunrise BWF World Junior Championships after suffering a 3-1 defeat against China at the GOR Amongrogo sports hall in Yogyakarta, on Thursday.

Indonesia’s only win was in the women’s singles, with Gregoria Mariska Tanjung defeating Han Yue.

“We’re sad not to be able to advance to the semis,” said team manager Susy Susanti in a post-match press conference, adding that she highlighted the junior team’s lack of consistency as they started the day with a win.

“Stamina, concentration, focus and decision-making are the main factors that need to be evaluated,” she added.

Indonesia opened Thursday with a promising display, as M. Shohibul Fikri and Adnan Maulana managed to put some pressure on Fan Qiuyue and Wang Chang in the men’s doubles.

The Indonesians owned the first game, winning 21-13, but failed in the two other games, losing out 18-21, 21-15.

Refusing to surrender, young star Gregoria, who showcased beautiful net play, was able to get one back for Indonesia, beating Han 21-17, 21-17.

The red-and-white team held on to their dream of reaching the next round as Gatjra Piliang Faqihilahi Cupu tamed Yupeng Bai 21-17 in the first game of the men’s singles.

But the Chinese player got back to his feet, beating Gatjra 21-15, 13-21 in the remaining two games.

As the 2-1 advantage was in favor of China, there was a lot of pressure on Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto and Ribka Sugiarto to win the decisive women’s doubles fight for the host team.

Jauza and Ribka needed to upset Liu Xuanxuan and Yuting Xia in order to bag the semifinal ticket. Unfortunately, the Chinese pair were too powerful, defeating the Indonesians 21-9, 21-15.

“It was just too bad. Jauza and Ribka were pressured by the Chinese duo from the start of the match — they couldn’t find a way to develop their play,” said Olympian Susy, who set a standard in Indonesia’s women’s singles.

Jauza revealed that she and her partner had become overwhelmed with the high expectation — considering that the Indonesians had lost against the Chinese in a previous meeting.

“Playing in a decisive match, like we did, is always a burden,” said Jauza.

Meanwhile, Ribka said: “[Jauza and I] are still getting to know each other. We don’t quite fit with each other yet because we just got paired over the last few months.”

Later in the day, Indonesia was set to meet Thailand in the play-offs for fifth to eighth places.

Ding Ke, the Chinese team’s official, said the Indonesian team had the potential to become a good squad.

She revealed the key to her team’s success was good communication between players and coaches.

Ding blamed Han’s loss on the fact that she felt unwell during the match. “But today she is playing well, she will play better in the future.”