jAfter a thrilling tie, Indonesia finally beat Malaysia 3/2 to clinch their fourth Thomas Cup title in a row. Hendrawan was the hero of the night, bringing back the third point in the last match of the evening.

He was there, standing on his teammate’s shoulders, with big tears running down his cheeks, after he clinched the last point for his county against Roslin Hashim. Hendrawan (pictured) was the Indonesian hero.

Almost twelve months after he was crowned World Champion, the 29-year-old had struggled to win some matches under the new scoring system. And today in Guangzhou, he was the one to deliver for his team mates, playing 5 x 7.

But things didn’t run very smoothly for the Indonesians, as both their first and second men’s singles had been defeated by the Malaysian gunners. Marleve Mainaky was the first on court against Wong Choong Hann, and the Malaysian, after a tough start which saw him trail 0/5, came back very strongly with his favourite down the lines attacks, to score 7 points in a row. Same fate in the second game when once again Mainaky led 5/2, but Wong’s blocks and fast smashes allowed him to come back and win 7/5. The third game wasn’t as tight, as the Malaysian closed it up 7/1.

Candra and Sigit (pictured) made it obvious that Indonesia had a very strong doubles line up. Against Chew and Chan, who are the Japanchampions, they hardly left any space available on court, and threw themselves at the net, attacking all they could. “We knew how to play and we also knew that whoever was taking the attack would win the point. But the match was closer than the score showed,” said Sigit. On the score panel: 7/3 – 7/4 – 7/2, for the first Indonesian point.

Taufik bows to Lee Tsueng Seng

The Malaysians had trusted Hafiz Hashim to play in the semi-final against China, and they were right to do so. In the final, they had hoped that Lee Tsuen Seng, the other youngster in the team could do as well against Indonesian wonder Taufik Hidayat. And once again, this was the winning bet, as Lee played magnificently. Hidayat showed some glimpses of his talent when he won two out of the four first games, but his net play wasn’t as sharp as usual. On the other side of the net, Lee worked wonders, trying to get the shuttle down as often as possible.

Over motivated by his teammates on the side of the court, yelling and shouting for the next point, Lee’s eyes were often gliding to the score board in the fifth and final game. Finally, the young Malaysian (pictured) changed ends leading 4/1 and didn’t let his chance get away from him, beating Hidayat once more after he had defeated his opponent in last year’s Swiss The Malaysian could celebrate while Taufik, very unhappy about his performance, left the arena without shaking hands with his opponent and missing most of his teammates subsequent performances.

Things then got a little more complicated when Halim Haryanto, world champion with Tony Gunawan, and Trikus Haryanto came on court. They knew they could not lose the match as Malaysia was in the lead 2/1. “This match was very tricky, because we knew how good the Malaysian second doubles could play, and we had a lot of pressure, especially me because it was my first Thomas Cup,” said Halim.

But the Indonesians held the pressure, with a very inspired Trikus, who played some incredible diving defence shots while the whole crowd was noisily admiring. The little Indonesian was also playing up for the camera, often showing his fist to the cameramen. The first two games were breath taking, both finishing 8/7, one on each side. Yet Halim and Trikus played a little above their opponents in the remaining games, to clinch the second point for Indonesia.

Hendrawan, always here in big occasions

Always very calm and concentrated, the 29-year-old Indonesian came on court with a great deal of pressure. But as on all big occasions, Hendrawan did not disappoint. Once already he had surprised everyone in 2000 when he got the silver medal at the Sydney Olympics. Once again in Seville, where hardly anyone expected him to win, he had won the title against Peter Gade, outplaying the Dane in the most impressive way. Tonight, he faced Roslin Hashim for the Thomas Cup title.

And in the first game, he tried to play a very attacking game, suited for this scoring system. He did succeed somehow as he won 8/7 after saving 4 game points, but Roslin’s defence was in the way. “I then changed my tactic to play my usual game, not trying to finish the points too quickly,” said Hendrawan. A smart move, as the Malaysian then had to lead the game, and Hendrawan was just controlling the shuttle, with last minute strokes. A very fit Hashim tried to resist the Indonesian but he was getting confused with Hendrawan’s tricky play. Point by point, the latter took control of the game until it was all over in just three games. After the match point, Hendrawan pointed out to his teammates, and ran away from them as a big red wave of players engulfed the court to carry their hero on their shoulder (pictured).

“I am very happy tonight, but this success isn’t only mine, but it is the one of the whole team,” said a delighted Hendrawan, who should be competing in the Malaysian back with his favourite 3 x 15 scoring system. The emotions overwhelmed everyone in Indonesia’s camp, where most of the players and officials were holding each other in tears before the players stood up and sang out loud their National Anthem (pictured)

They may have been favourites, but the Indonesians were troubled by a very strong and outgoing Malaysian team, which success was based upon a new solidarity and a real team work between the private club Nusa Mahsuri – home of the Hashim brothers - and the Badminton Association of Malaysia.

All eyes are now turned towards the next edition in 2004, which will be played in a different format, with 12 teams among which one from each continent, as decided by the IBF Council on Saturday. The three venues which have so far expressed interest in organising the event are China, Japan and Indonesia.

report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat