The Indonesian men’s badminton side beat India 3-1 in their tie at the Gachibowli International Stadium in Hyderabad today to progress to the finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships.
The women’s side crashed out in yesterday’s quarterfinals after being routed 0-3 by a dominant Korean side.
Indian ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth played the first match of the tie, going up against Indonesian badminton champion Tommy Sugiarto. This was the evening’s most even contest, with Srikanth ranked 9th and Sugiarto at 10th in the world badminton rankings.
Srikanth made short work of Sugiarto in the first game, and with a 13-8 lead early on looked set to finish that contest in straight games. The Indonesian put up a spirited fight to take the next game to 23-23 before he managed to take a 25-23 win over his Indian rival.
In the end, Srikanth won the deciding game to take India to a 1-0 lead in the tie.
The successful doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were up next, and took on Indonesia’s Mohamad Ahsan and Hendra Setawan. The Indonesians completely outplayed their experienced Indian rivals, however, and won the first game easily, 21-11.
Although the Indians displayed quick cross-court movement and powerful smashes, the Indonesian team remained calm, collected and relatively stationary at the net as they dispatched Attri and Reddy.
Ahsan and Setawan won the first doubles match in straight games to equalise the tie at one match all.
Next up was India’s Ajay Jayaram, who played the lower-ranked Ginting Anthony and would have fancied his chances going into the tie. 25th-ranked Jayaram was surprised by his younger rival, who quickly took the lead. The Indian wrested control of the game back, but only momentarily, and despite Jayaram winning three points on the trot it was Anthony who won the first game 21-15.
Anthony would take the next game as well, 22-20 – pulling off a straight games victory as he upset Jayaram.
This gave Indonesia a 2-1 lead in the tie, and meant that India necessarily needed a win to stay in contention for the finals.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar played the second men’s doubles tie, taking on Ricky Karanda Suwardi and Angga Pratama. As was the case in the previous doubles tie, Suwardi and Pratama pulled off some powerful smashes as they left Chopra and Dewalkar struggling to keep up.
The Indians trailed 9-17 at one point in the first game, with the Indonesian team winning it 21-13. Chopra and Dewalkar put up a fight in the second game and managed to win it 21-18, but it proved not to be enough in the end, with the Indonesians taking the final game of the match, the tie and with it, the night.
Winning the final men’s doubles tie, Indonesia took an insurmountable 3-1 lead over India, and made the finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships as a result.
Final result: Indonesia beat India 3-1
