T

he Indonesian men’s badminton team means business with its ambition to be all out in this championship as they leave Canada with no points in their 5-0 qualifiers victory on Sunday.            

First shuttler Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, popularly known as Ginting, defeated Canadian Jason Anthony Ho-Shue in straight games 21-11 and 21-18 in 34 minutes.

Taking the first game easily 21-11, Ginting had to sweat a bit more in the second game as Ho-Shue improved his play and minimized his errors. After leading 11-9 until the first interval of the second game, Ginting was left by 11-13 before he could equalize 13 all.

Ho-Shue once again tried to make Ginting run around the court as he successfully led 15-13. Ginting then locked his opponent’s points at 15 before he ended the game 21-18.

After the match, Ginting said he needed to adapt to the changing of the wind in the second set, which became one of the factors that helped him leave his opponent behind.

“My opponent played better in the second game. I just need to adapt more to the wind conditions on the court by improving my accuracy,” he said.

Veteran duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, who were deployed in the second match, provided the second victory for the team. Ahsan and Hendra beat the Canadians Jonathan Bing Tsai Lai and Duncan Yao 21-8 and 21-15 in 19 minutes.

Despite the easy win, Ahsan said a little drift on the court had influenced their matches.

“Our opponents made a lot of mistakes [during the match]. This is our first match, so we tried to feel the atmosphere [of the tournament],” he said.

Ihsan Maulana Mustofa, the third player, secured the win by defeating Antonio Li 21-6 and 21-8 within 22 minutes of the third match in a best-of-five battle.

The world’s number 12 pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who played the fourth match, did not lower their spirits to seal another point despite the team’s victory. Playing against the first Canadian pair, Fajar and Rian won 21-17 and 21-14 in 23 minutes.

“Our opponents showed their good performance as they made few mistakes. We just tried to adapt to the court’s conditions as we felt the drift was quite fast,” Fajar said.

Fajar, who admitted that he was a bit nervous playing as a first-timer at the Thomas Cup, said he tried to control his nerves as he realized it could influence his game. Despite the nerves, both Fajar and Rian said they were very proud when asked how they felt representing their country for the first time at the Thomas Cup.

Playing in the last match, Firman Abdul Kholik completed the country’s domination against Canada by beating Paul-Antoine Dostie-Guindon 21-11 and 21-8 in 22 minutes.

Responding to the next match against Thailand, men’s doubles coach Herry IP said he had instructed the team to pay attention to the match between Thailand and South Korea on Sunday evening. The match, he said, was crucial as it would decide both teams’ journey in the tournament.

“I have instructed the video analysis team to record the match, and we will learn their game from that. Thailand and Korea have the same chances to win the match, so I believe they will deploy their best players, which probably will be playing against us in the next match,” he said on Sunday.

The result of Sunday evening match will also determine which Indonesian shuttlers will play in Tuesday’s game, he added.