Indonesia tops Group D to reach quarterfinals

Damar Harsanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 05/13/2008 10:39 AM  |  Sports

DRUMMER UP SUPPORT: A member of the German team beats a drum to cheer on his teammates.

The Indonesian men's team topped Group D in the Thomas Cup and secured a berth in the quarterfinals after defeating Germany 5-0 in the second day of the tournament at the Bung Karno Sports Hall in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Monday.

Indonesia's two top players, Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Taufik Hidayat, made amends for their shock defeat on the opening day, with both winning their matches in two games.

Sony, the world No. 6, outclassed world No. 30 Marc Zwiebler of Germany 21-10, 21-11 to start Indonesia's whitewash.

"I played with more confidence today. I tried to be more focused because I wanted to make up for the defeat yesterday," said the 24-year-old.

"He had some good shots and shuttlecock placements despite his low world ranking. But because he made a lot of errors, I could benefit from his mistakes."

After Indonesia built to a 2-0 lead thanks to world No. 1 doubles team Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, Taufik Hidayat regained his form to seal Indonesia's unassailable 3-0 lead.

Taufik romped home to an easy 21-10, 21-16 win over Dieter Domke of Germany.

Sony and Taufik lost their rubbers in Indonesia's 3-2 win over Thailand on the opening day.

World champions Markis and Hendra had to flex their muscles to wear down Roman Spitko and Michael Fuchs' resistance in a tough 18-21, 21-12, 21-7 match.

The win allowed Indonesia to top Group D and ensured the team a place in the quarterfinals.

Nova Widianto and Candra Wijaya added another point to the scoresheet before Simon Santoso, who saved Indonesia from embarrassment in the opening match against Thailand, completed the whitewash in the fifth rubber.

In taking on Tim Dettmann and Johannes Schoettler, experience seemed to be the key factor for mixed doubles specialist Nova and evergreen doubles specialist Candra as they ran to their convincing 21-17, 21-17 win in 27 minutes.

"Personally, I did not play my best in the match. This is the first time I played in this Thomas Cup. I still need to fine-tune the game with my partner, Candra," said Nova, who won two world championships with former partner Lilyana Natsir. The current pair teamed up only a month ago.

"I want to play my best and deliver victory in every match. That's my goal in this tournament," said the 33-year-old, who has played for the national team in the biennial Thomas Cup six times.

Simon was given an easy task in his 29-minute 21-14, 21-11 win over Sven Eric Kastens of Germany.

Indonesia team official Lius Pongoh said most Indonesian shuttlers had rediscovered their form against Germany after their Sunday's matches against Thailand.

"We had a shaky start because our players were struggling to adjust to the competition. It seems they found their games even though Germany isn't a tough team to beat," Lius said.

But Lius warned the Indonesian shuttlers would need to prepare for tougher opponents in the knock-out stage.

"Our players must be tough and high spirited. Technical advantage alone won't be enough to win the match," Lius said.

Indonesia's head coach Christian Hadinata said the team would carry out a thorough evaluation of their performance in the group stage before they decided the player line-ups for the knock-out stage.

"We have fulfilled our preliminary target to become the group leader. We hope our team performance will be better in the next stage, which will surely be much tougher," said Christian. (ind)

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