A Hard Challenge to Bring Home the Legend

Agung Setyahadi from Nanning, China

· 4 minutes read

NANNING, KOMPAS — The cheers of excitement from the bench of the Indonesian team blared at Guangxi Sports Center, Nanning, China on Friday (24/5/2019), when the badminton mixed doubles pair Praveen Jorda and Melati Daeva Oktavianti ensured that Indonesia qualified for the Sudirman Cup 2019 semifinal. Mohammad Ahsan, Tontowi Ahmad and other players jumped from their bench shouting.

On the badminton court, Praveen shouted, the racket slipped from his right hand and he clenched his fist. Melati raised her hand toward the Indonesian team tribune. Their 21-17, 21-15 win over Taiwanese players Wang Chi-lin and Hsieh Pei Shan strengthens the motivation of the “Red and White” team to bring home the legend, the Sudirman Cup.

To make this a reality, the Indonesian team needs to defeat the Japanese team in the semifinals on Saturday (25/5) starting at 5 p.m. western Indonesia time. Japan, the tournament\'s top seed, qualified for the semifinals after beating Malaysia, 3-0.

Japan\'s strength is evenly distributed in all five numbers, with the world number one players in the men’s singles and women\'s doubles. In fact, Japanese coach Park Joo-bong was confident he could take his team to the final match against China or Thailand, which are facing off in the other semifinal.

Japan has never brought home the Sudirman Cup, the symbol of the badminton world champion in mixed team. Not surprisingly, the "Rising Sun" team wanted to take it, as proof of its achievement toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Indonesia longs for the same trophy after embracing it in the first championship in 1989. Over the next three decades, the

trophy named after Indonesian badminton player Dick Sudirman has been moving between China and South Korea. China has won it 10 times and South Korea four times.

"The Sudirman Cup has not returned to Indonesia yet. As a child of the nation, I want to bring home [the Sudirman Cup]. Because of that, we struggled desperately to win. Fighting for the best," Praveen said in the ‘mixed zone’ area where Indonesia won 3-2 over Taiwan.

Overcome pressure

Praveen and Melati, who lost to England in the qualifying Group 1B, appeared calm and disciplined against Wang and Hsieh. In fact, this match was full of pressure when Indonesia and Taiwan had won two matches apiece. "I was a bit tense, because this an important match. We are tense and so are they. So, we don\'t think of being an important match. We play as best as we can and try to win," Melati said.

Two other victories for Indonesia were obtained from world number one men\'s doubles pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, and the women\'s doubles pair Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu. As for the singles, Indonesia must recognize the superiority of Taiwanese players. In the women\'s singles, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, lost to Tai Tzu Ying and in the men\'s singles Jonatan Christie lost 11-21, 13-21 to Chou Tien Chen.

"The men\'s doubles, women\'s doubles and mixed doubles players show amazing play. They know very well they are our defense, our mainstay. The task is done as best as possible," said Sudirman Cup team manager Susy Susanti.

Indonesia\'s march to the semifinals fulfilled expectations as it became the third winner. These results also repeat the last achievement at the 2015 Sudirman Cup in Dongguan, China. At that time Hendra Setiawan and his friends were defeated by China, 1-3. As for the Gold Coast, Australia, 2017, Indonesia suffered the worst results when it was eliminated in the group stage.

"In the semifinals, Japan is superior, but in the game there is nothing that is impossible. Even top players can lose," Susy said

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