Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Tiebreaker Times

2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships

‘Minions’ lift Indonesia to Asian Badminton Team finals showdown vs Malaysia


Defending champion Indonesia turned to its best doubles pair of Marcus Gideon and Kevin Sakamuljo to outlast India, 3-2, and clinch its place in the Finals of the 2020 SMART Badminton Asia Manila Team Championship, Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. 

The world no. 1 tandem, affectionately called “The Minions”, showed that they have the skills, dominating Lakshya Sen and Chirag Shetty in just 24 minutes of action, 21-6, 21-13.

The 2019 Southeast Asian Games men’s team champions led twice in the tie at 1-0 and 2-1, with Anthony Ginting and Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan getting the wins.

Ginting took the win over B. Sai Praneeth, who was forced to retire in the second game due to a pulled hamstring.

Ahsan and Setiawan then had to fend off M. R. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila in the deciding frame to take the lead again, 21-10, 14-21, 23-21.

Sen earlier leveled the tie with a win over Jonatan Christie in the second singles match at 21-18, 22-20. Subhankar Dey then forced the decider, taking down Shesar Rhustavito, 21-17, 21-15.

“Actually, once you are in the match you’ll never know what will happen, but it is unexpected that our second singles lost,” Indonesian doubles coach Herry Peirngadi said.

“Because this is already the final. We have no choice, I guess, but to put the best of the best to make sure that we still win the championship game.”

Fellow Southeast Asian powerhouse Malaysia flexed its muscles against the short-handed Japanese squad and completed the sweep at 3-0.

#ReadMore  Sorela nails winner vs Pagadian, carries Zambo Sibugay to tie for first in VisMin

Cheam June Wei shook off a stunning second-set blowout loss, 3-21, against Kenta Nishimoto, eventually sealing the finals ticket for the Malaysians at 21-12 in the third set, following up his tight 21-19 win in the first frame.

Reigning SEA Games singles champion Lee Zii Jia started the rout with an impressive 21-11, 8-21, 21-11 marathon against Kanta Tsuneyama in the opening singles match.

Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik made it 2-0 with a 21-18, 21-15 conquest of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi.

Indonesia will stake its crown against regional rival Malaysia on Sunday, February 16, at 4 p.m.

Written By


You May Also Like

News

The Philippines stood its ground but still fell to Thailand in five sets, while Leg 1 champion Indonesia made short work of Vietnam in...

2022 Badminton Asia Championships

World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia completed his date with destiny after bagging his first-ever Asian title in men’s singles over Indonesia’s...

2022 Badminton Asia Championships

World no. 7 Lee Zii Jia’s road to history continued after his solid performance against China’s Weng Hong Yang, 21-11, 21-19, for a chance...

2022 Badminton Asia Championships

World no. 8 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia escaped with a hard-fought win against reigning World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, 22-20, 23-21, to...

2022 Badminton Asia Championships

World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia took care of business with a 21-14, 22-20 win against Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia in...

2022 Badminton Asia Championships

India’s Pusarla V. Sindhu booked her place in the quarterfinals with a win over Singapore’s Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi, 21-16, 21-16, in the women’s...

2022 Badminton Asia Championships

Second-seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia found his groove back late to take care of Thailand’s Sitthikhom Thammasin, 21-13, 17-21, 21-13 in the men’s singles...

2022 Badminton Asia Championships

For the first time, the Philippines will be hosting a BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament with the 2022 SMART Badminton Asia Championships set...

Advertisement