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Jakarta Post

Ahsan, Hendra salvage pride for Indonesia

Real heroes: Indonesia's badminton doubles players Mohammad Ahsan (right) and Hendra Setiawan celebrate their victory over South Korea's Ko Sung-hyun and Lee Young-dae in the Djarum Indonesia Open 2013 Men's doubles final at the Istora Senayan indoor stadium in Jakarta on Sunday

Niken Prathivi (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, June 17, 2013 Published on Jun. 17, 2013 Published on 2013-06-17T09:45:40+07:00

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span class="caption">Real heroes: Indonesia's badminton doubles players Mohammad Ahsan (right) and Hendra Setiawan celebrate their victory over South Korea's Ko Sung-hyun and Lee Young-dae in the Djarum Indonesia Open 2013 Men's doubles final at the Istora Senayan indoor stadium in Jakarta on Sunday. Ahsan and Hendra won the final 21-14, 21-18. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama

Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan seized Indonesia's last title opportunity by winning the men's doubles title at the Djarum Indonesia Open badminton championship in the final on Sunday.

Despite the duo looking visibly stressed during the match against South Korea's world No. 1 Ko Sung-hyun/Lee Yong-dae due to expectations and palpable suspense amid the vigorous support, they still managed to triumph at the end of the match inside Istora Senayan.

Hugging his partner in relief, Ahsan kneeled down and acknowledged the supporters.

At the VIP box, Youth and Sports Minister Roy Suryo, former chairman of the National Sports Council Agum Gumelar and Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) chairman Gita Wirjawan celebrated the moment by congratulating each other.

The Indonesian pair, who are only ranked 13th in the world, stunned the world No.1 team 21-14, 21-18.

'We're truly grateful that we won the title. Honestly, I was really worn out back there, but thanks to the crowd's endless support, I regained my spirit,' said Ahsan, whose jumping smashes frequently forced the opponents in the defense.

'That we are the only representative in the finals gave us motivation,' Hendra said.

Despite winning only one title, Indonesia may look ahead with rediscovered hopes especially in the men's singles showed by Tommy Sugiarto and Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka.

Both had been outstanding before being stopped in the semifinals.

China topped the US$700,000 Open by collecting three titles and Malaysia one.

After having its players in the men's singles denied a place in the semifinals, China made amends by winning in the women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

In women divisions, world No. 1 Li Xuerui of China was just too powerful for world No. 3 Julianne Schenk of Germany, nailing the title in 21-16, 18-21, 21-17 victory.

World No. 1 Li Xuerui had to battle in three games in defeating world No. 3 Julianne Schenk of Germany, 21-16, 18-21, 21-17.

A a fierce tussle also happened in the mixed doubles in which World No. 2 Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei finally triumphed over world No. 4 Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen 24-22, 20-22, 21-12.

In an all-Chinese final, Bao Yixin/Cheng Shu overcame world No. 1 Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang 15-21, 21-18, 21-18.

World No. 1 Lee Cong Wei lived up to the expectation by winning his title for a fifth time for Malaysia by beating Marc Zwiebler of Germany 21-15, 21-14 in 39 minutes.

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