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‘Unhappy’ Susy apologizes for championships defeat
Third-place: Indonesian women’s doubles pair Greysia Polii (left) and Apriyani Rahayu pose with their bronze medals during the BWF World Championships medals ceremony in Nanjing, China, on Sunday
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hird-place: Indonesian women’s doubles pair Greysia Polii (left) and Apriyani Rahayu pose with their bronze medals during the BWF World Championships medals ceremony in Nanjing, China, on Sunday. (Courtesy of PBSI)
Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) sports development head Susy Susanti acknowledged on Saturday that her shuttlers had failed to clinch the BWF World Championships title following Greysia Polli’s and Apriyani Rahayu’s exit.
“We missed the target. As a [PBSI] officer and team manager [for the championships] I apologize,” Susy said in a statement.
Women’s doubles pair Greysia and Apriyani were the only Indonesian shuttlers to reach the semifinals, in which they suffered a 21-12, 23-21 loss to fifth-seeded Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan.
“We certainly are unhappy with the result, but we have to get up again for Asian Games,” Susy said, referring to the multisport event held in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2.
Greysia and Apriyani still earned a bronze medal for their efforts. It was the second bronze for Greysia, who secured the same medal with Nitya Krishinda Maheswari in the 2015 BWF World Championships, but the first for Apriyani.
“We regret that we could not fulfill everyone’s — and even our own — target. We will evaluate our performance today. I know that it’s a long road to become a champion,” Greysia said.
Japanese players won big against their Indonesian counterparts at the worlds.
In the main draw on Wednesday, non-seed Kanta Tsuneyama stunned 12th-seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the men’s singles. On Thursday, fifth-seeded Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda defeated Fajar Alfian and M. Rian Ardianto, while seventh seeds Takuti Inoue and Yuki Kaneko beat Berry Angriawan and Hardianto in men’s doubles.
In Friday’s quarterfinals, fifth seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda toppled top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in men’s doubles. It was a big blow for Team Indonesia for losing its favorites for the title.
Similarly, fourth seeds Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto as well as second seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota outclassed 14th seeds Della Destiara Haris and Rizki Amelia Pradipta as well as Anggia Shitta Awanda and Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istarani in women’s doubles, respectively.
Commenting on Marcus and Kevin’s loss, Susy said: “Their style has been compromised. It is time for Marcus and Kevin to evaluate their performance so they cannot be easily read. They have to stay alert and humble.”
In the meantime, the Indonesians women’s doubles team sent three of its pairs to the world’s quarterfinals.
Susy lauded the progress made by her women’s doubles shuttlers.
“I saw some progress in terms of technical skills in the women’s doubles category. The down side was that they were still less capable of producing power and strength as well as staying patient while playing against the Japanese players. I hope they’ll do better at the Asian Games,” she added.
