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Indonesia out of Thomas Cup
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Indonesia's Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (front) dives to hit a return against Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan of China as his teammate Marcus Fernaldi Gideon looks on during their men's doubles semifinal match at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament in Bangkok on Friday. (AFP/Romeo Gacad)
I
ndonesia lost 3-1 to China in the semifinals of the 2018 Thomas Cup men’s team badminton championship to continue its 16-year title drought on Friday night.
Veteran duo Hendra Setiawan and Muhammad Ahsan failed to deliver in a deciding fourth match as they were defeated 21-17, 18-21 and 21-12 by Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen at the IMPACT Arena in Bangkok.
Indonesia started the day badly following to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting’s 22-20, 21-16 loss to world number-five Chen Long.
Ginting said he adopted an attacking strategy as he thought it would stop Chen from dominating. Unexpectedly, instead of playing defensively, seasoned Chen managed to flip the situation by applying similar tactics.
World number-one pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo secured the only win for the team after outclassing world number-three duo Zhang Nan and Liu Cheng 12-21, 21-17 and 21-15 in 55 minutes.
Playing the third match, world number-11 Jonatan Christie failed to take the lead as he lost 18-21, 21-12 and 21-15 to world number-three Shi Yuqi in 63 minutes.
Hendra and Ahsan’s defeat in the deciding match sent the Indonesian team home empty-handed, just like two years ago when the country lost in the final against Denmark.
