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Thailand stretch the Indons
September 11, 2001 - Source : IBF
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An Indonesian victory in the semi-finals of the men’s inter-team competition at the 21st SEA Games seemed to be a formality for all but the Thais.
Thailand bowed out 0-3 to the Indonesians in the semi-finals but not before giving their fancied rivals some anxious moments at the Malawati Stadium. The scoreline did no justice to the Thais. But it would be the Indonesians who would take court in the final against perennial rivals Malaysia on Tuesday.
Despite fielding and under-strength side, Malaysia cruised to an easy 3-0 win over Singapore in the other semi-finals.
Indonesian chief coach Christian Hadinata said that Thailand were worthy opponents.
“We did not expect them to bow out easily. We expected them to play hard and they did exactly that,” said Christian.
It was battle all right, right from the word go. World champion Hendrawan, still struggling to reassert himself, found the going tough against the enterprising Boonsak Polsana.
Hendrawan started on his customary slow start and lost a closely fought first game to Boonsak, who underwent training in China last year. But the veteran Indon slowly whittled away his opponent’s defence to carve out a 16-17, 15-12, 15-4 win.
Former world champions Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto also found their opponents Pramote Teerawiwatana-Tesana Panvisvas a tough nut to crack. It took all their guile and experience to get past the defending SEA Games men’s doubles champions 15-13, 7-15, 15-5.
Indonesianchampion Marleve Mainaky gave the Indons an unassailable lead in the second singles. But, he was surprisingly stretched to three games by Anupap Theeraratsakul. Marleve won the match 15-9, 14-17, 15-9.
While Indonesia were struggling to book their final berth, hosts Malaysia hardly broke a sweat in their whitewash of Singapore.
The Malaysian squad could even afford to field doubles specialist Chan Chong Ming for the third singles. They had named Japanchampion Roslin Hashim for the second doubles partnering Lee Wan Wah. However, with the tie settled in the first three matches, the doubles were not played.
Malaysian coach Indra Gunawan said that it would be an uphill task for Malaysia in the final.
“It would be difficult to beat the Indonesians although our players have shown improvement in recent months. All three singles would be 50-50 affairs,” said Indra.
But expect the Indonesian to have something up his sleeves as he plots the downfall of his former charges.
“We need to be mentally tough. The home ground advantage and the pressure on the Indonesians could help us,” said Indra.
Malaysia will be banking on winning two singles and the second doubles to upstage the Indons. With Choong Tan Fook still nursing an injury, the Malaysians are likely to throw away the first doubles and hope for Chan Chong Ming-Chew Choon Eng to beat the Indonesian scratch pair of Bambang Suprianto-Tony Gunawan.
While the Malaysian men are plotting to upstage the Indons, the Malaysian women failed in their mission today.
Malysia expected to give the Indonesians a tough time, fizzled out in the women’s inter-team semi-finals. They lost 0-3 to Indonesia. Indonesia will play Thailand, who thrashed Vietnam by the same margin in the other semi-finals.
“We had hoped for Ng Mee Fen to give us a winning start and out the pressure on the Indons in the second doubles and third singles,” said Malaysian coach Park Joo-bong.
But, Mee Fen fell 7-11, 6-11 to Lydia Djaelawidjaya in the first singles. Malaysia lost both the first doubles and second singles.
“The tie was settled even before our strategy could be put in place. If Mee Fen had won it could have been a different story,” said Joo-bong.
Thai team manager, former international Sompol Kukasemkij said that they were looking to put an end to their losing streak.
“We have always lost to them in the finals. It is time we try to break the duck,” said Sompol.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s Inter-Team
Malaysia beat Singapore 3-0 (Ong Ewe Hock bt Gerald Ho 15-9, 15-7; Wong Choong Hann bt Kenny Quek 15-2, 15-7; Chan Chong Ming beat Mohd Malik Masri 15-7, 15-4)
Indonesia beat Thailand 3-0 (Hendrawan bt Boonsak Polsana 16-17, 15-12, 15-4; Candra Wijaya-Sigit Budiarto bt Pramote Teerawiwatana-Tesana Panvisvas 15-13, 7-15, 15-5; Marleve Mainaky bt Anupap Theeraratsakul 15-9, 14-17, 15-9)
Women’s Inter-Team
Indonesia bt Malaysia 3-0 (Lidya Djaelawidjaya bt Ng Mee Fen 11-7, 11-6; Deyana Lomban-Vita Marissa bt Norashikin Amin-Wong Pei Tty 15-8, 15-8; Yuli Marfuah bt Wong Miew Kheng 11-6, 9-11, 11-5)
Thailand bt Vietnam 3-0 (Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn bt Le Noc Nguyen Nhung 11-2, 11-1; Salakjit Polsana bt Ngo Hai Van 11-0, 11-0; Nucharinta Teekatakul bt Nguyen Hanh Dung 11-1, 11-5)
report by S T Arasu
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