TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Kevin, Marcus new All England champions from Indonesia
Change Size
The 2017 All England men's doubles champions Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon. (PBSI/PBSI)
U
nderdog pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon have become Indonesia's newest All England champions after beating Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China in the final 35-minute match on Sunday.
Kevin and Marcus outshone the Chinese pair 21-19, 21-14 in the prestigious badminton tournament.
"I still feel really nervous. This is our first win in such an event," said Marcus after the match at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham as quoted by the Indonesian Badminton Association's (PBSI) website, badmintonindonesia.org.
The world number five pair reached the final after outclassing the world’s seventh-ranked duo Mads Conrad Petersen and Mads Pier Kolding of Denmark 21-12, 11-21, 21-16 in Saturday’s semifinals.
Kevin and Marcus, the 2016 China Open winners, were the only Indonesian representatives in the All England semifinals after compatriots Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir were knocked out by seventh seeds Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock in the quarterfinals.
Kevin and Marcus had become Indonesia’s sole hope of maintaining its tradition of winning at least one title in the prestigious All England since 2012 — though it missed out in the 2015 edition before Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto made amends in 2016 — after their compatriots fell throughout the super series tournament.
