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Indonesia’s men’s badminton team pulls off Asia Team Championships hat trick

Newly formed doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan and Fajar Alfian delivered the victory after beating Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 21-17 in the fourth round of a best-of-five final on Sunday.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, February 17, 2020

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Indonesia’s men’s badminton team pulls off Asia Team Championships hat trick The Indonesian men's badminton team poses on the podium after winning the 2020 Asia Team Championships in Manila on Sunday. (PBSI/PBSI)

T

he Indonesian men’s badminton team has won the Asia Team Championships title for the third time in a row after defeating rival Malaysia 3-1 in the final in Manila.

Newly formed doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan and Fajar Alfian delivered the victory after beating Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-18, 21-17 in the fourth round of a best-of-five final on Sunday. The last match was not played.

Prior to Ahsan and Fajar’s win, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting outclassed Lee Zii Jia 22-20, 21-16 in singles, while Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon conquered Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 22-20, 21-16 in doubles. However, Jonatan Christie lost his singles match up against Cheam June Wei 16-21, 21-17, 24-22.

Alhamdulillah [thank God] we could secure victory, the third time in a row at the Asian Team Championships,” Ahsan said after the match, as stated in a release from the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI).

Fajar said he was nervous about being paired with Ahsan prior to the championship. Normally, Fajar is paired with Muhammad Rian Ardianto, while Ahsan is paired with Hendra Setiawan.

“I was nervous and did not know what our pace would like in a match. But he gave me a lot of insight, so I just enjoyed playing together,” Fajar said.

Newly formed men's doubles pair Fajar Alfian (left) and Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia compete against Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia in the final of the 2020 Asia Team Championships in Manila on Sunday. The pair won the match to seal the title for Indonesia.
Newly formed men's doubles pair Fajar Alfian (left) and Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia compete against Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia in the final of the 2020 Asia Team Championships in Manila on Sunday. The pair won the match to seal the title for Indonesia. (PBSI/PBSI)

As expected, the final was a hard fought affair.

One of the highlights came when Fajar-Ahsan and Ong-Yew were tied at 11-11 in the second game. After raising the heartbeat of the fans in the crowd, the Indonesians emerged victorious.  

Team manager Susy Susanti praised the team’s achievement, adding that the team had improved since the semifinal.

“The coach and players were more confident. They showed amazing fight and performed their best,” said Susy, who is the head of PBSI’s development and achievement department.

Susy, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics gold medalist in women’s singles, said the decision to pair Ahsan and Fajar for the championship was made to counter the strengths of the Malaysian squad.

At the 2019 Thailand Open, Ahsan was paired with Hendra, with the pair losing 18-21, 21-16, 21-23 to Ong and Teo.

Susy added that the team was reconfigured with the goal of improving its strategy, dexterity, anticipation of the opponent’s moves and focus in critical moments during matches.

“We reconfigured the doubles pairing because we were confident of our strong defense. However, we still need to improve the performance of our singles players because they lacked consistency,” Susy said. 

Meanwhile, in the women's competition, Japan won the title after defeating South Korea 3-0. (mpr)

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