span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Hundreds of the badminton aficionados came to the Istora Stadium at the Senayan sports complex in Central Jakarta on Monday to lend their support to Indonesian badminton players fighting for tickets to the main round of the 2016 BCA Indonesia Open Super Series Premier badminton championship.
Brandishing pom-poms and sounding drums and trumpets, enthusiastic fans encouraged the Indonesian players.
Via from Serang, Banten, was among the crowd of supporters.
"I hope the Indonesian shuttlers don’t give up easily and be cowed by their opponents," Via told thejakartapost.com on Monday.
Tagging along with three friends, Via plans to watch the championship until the series’ final rounds on Sunday.
Some Indonesian shuttlers managed to translate the home support into victory, including Indonesia’s men’s doubles pair Akbar Bintang Cahyono and Angger Sudrajat, who defeated Singaporean doubles Terry Hee and Kean Hean Loh in a tight 17-21, 23-21, and 25-23 match.
Unfortunately, some Indonesian qualifiers were sent packing early as they crashed in Monday’s qualifying round, including mixed doubles pair Henry Jansen Putra Wibowo and Angelica Caroline Mandang, who lost to Australian pair Matthew Chaw and Gronya Sommervile 11-21, 11-21, and men's double pair Nathaniel Ernestan Sulistyo and Hendra Tandjaya who bowed to Malaysian Jian Yi Lee and Zhen Ting Lim 9-21, 8-21.
Another supporter Lilis, 25, said that she was disappointed with some defeats of the Indonesian shuttlers on the first day.
However, she hopes that the performance of other Indonesian shuttlers in the championships, do not disappoint local crowd.
"I hope they play their best and hopefully we’ll see them reach at least the quarterfinals, God willing,” said the fan of Indonesia's 2014 All England men’s double champions Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan. (dmr)
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