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No title for the hosts, Danes make history
History has been made at the BCA Indonesia Open 2014, not by the hosts but by a visiting team, as Denmark won two titles for the first time at the US$750,000 tournament in Jakarta on Sunday
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istory has been made at the BCA Indonesia Open 2014, not by the hosts but by a visiting team, as Denmark won two titles for the first time at the US$750,000 tournament in Jakarta on Sunday.
The Danes' title-grab began with Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christina Pedersen chalking up a hard-fought 18-21, 21-16, 21-14 win in the mixed doubles final over China's Xu Chen and Ma Jin.
'Last year, we came close to the title. We came here this year, tried to get to the final again and, hopefully, to see if we could win ['¦] and we have. We are very proud of winning this tournament,' Nielsen said after the match.
'It's a very difficult tournament for Europeans to win. It's very hot out here,' he added.
The last time Danish players triumphed at the Indonesia Open was back in 1999, courtesy of women's doubles pair, Helena Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen.
Xu Chen and Ma Jin advanced to the finals after disposing of Indonesia's hopefuls, Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir in three games on Saturday.
Pedersen said she and Nielsen had to thank the Indonesian pair for having stretched the Chinese in the semifinal.
'They seemed to be a little tired today. They had a tough match yesterday against Natsir/Ahmad, so we owe them thanks,' Pedersen said.
She added that they had tried to make it hard for Xu Chen and Ma Jin. 'We played fast and tried to move them all around the court,' she said.
Commenting on the loss, Xu Chen said they had tried their best, but unfortunately it was just not their day.
'This is nobody's fault. We have to accept the loss,' he said.
The Danish contingent took home their second title in the men's singles through Jan O. Jorgensen, who became so overwhelmed by his 21-18, 21-18 victory over Japan's Kenichi Tago that he could not hold back his tears when acknowledging the spectators at the Istora Senayan in Central Jakarta.
'I just simply can't believe I have won the Indonesia Open. This is by far my biggest achievement in my career,' Jorgensen said.
He said the 2014 Indonesia Open was his first super series tournament in Asia, the home of badminton. 'And I'm the first European guy ' Danish guy [to win]. I just made history today'.
While the Danish players and fans were overjoyed, the 2014 edition of the Indonesia Open was one to forget for the hosts.
Indonesia's only representatives in a final, men's doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, failed to live up to the crowd's expectation as the defending champions were crushed by South Korea's Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong 21-15, 21-17.
'We did not play well today. We made a lot of mistakes due to our poor defense,' Hendra said.
The world's badminton superpower, China, bagged the other two titles, namely the women's singles and doubles.
Li Xuerui halted Thai Ratchanok Intanon's outstanding run in the tournament with a 21-13, 21-13 win in the women's singles final, while the all-Chinese women's doubles final between Qing Tian/Zhao Yunlei and Ma Jin/Tang Yuanting did not take place due to a thigh injury sustained by Ma Jin in the mixed doubles. (gda)
