Java teams dominate badminton event at PON

Musthofid , The Jakarta Post , Samarinda | Wed, 07/09/2008 10:29 PM | Headlines

Four teams from Java cruised to the semifinals Wednesday as the National Games (PON) badminton competition wound up its group matches.

In both the men's and women's competition, Jakarta will take on East Java while Central and West Java will go head to head.

In the final group matches, the men's and women's teams from West Java suffered shut-out losses at the hands of Jakarta: 5-0 in the men's match and 3-0 in the women's. Central Java brushed aside East Java 3-2 and 3-0, in the men's and women's events.

The matches were held Wednesday at Palaran badminton hall in Samarinda.

West Java team manager Herman Subarja said he had instructed his players not to force a win because it would have been difficult to achieve.

"Win or lose, a place in the semifinals is already assured, so I told them they'd better save their energy for later matches," Herman said.

Simon Santoso, a member of the Indonesian Thomas Cup team, defeated Budi Santoso 21-13, 21-11 to give the opening win to Jakarta. Joko Riyadi and Hendra Wijaya then followed up with a doubles win while Tommy Sugiarto, Alamsyah and doubles players Bona Septano and Anggun Nugroho contributed three more wins to advance the team to the top of Group A.

Tommy eased to a 21-12, 21-12 win over Agung Rohanda while Bona and Anggun beat Ardiansyah and Devin Lahardi 21-13, 21-15.

Alamsyah posted a 21-9, 21-15 win over Andi Hartono.

Jakarta team manager Budi Nugroho said his team benefited from their opponents' strategy.

"It seemed like West Java could not force a win. I think it was to our benefit that our players didn't have to exert themselves in the matches, so we'll have more power for the
semifinals," Budi said.

Central Java fought hard to defeat East Java 3-2, advancing to the top of Group B. After Andre Kurniawan lost to Fauzi Adnan 21-19, 24-22, Rian Sukmawan and Yonatan came back to even the score 1-1 with a 19-21, 21-17, 22-20 win over Tony Gunawan and Tri
Kusharjanto.

Central Java scored points with wins from Andreas Adityawarman and Nugroho Andi Saputro. Andreas stunned Jeffer Rosobin 21-16, 14-21, 21-15 while Nugroho upset Roni Agustinus 9-21, 21-10, 21-19.

East Java narrowed the gap after Bambang Suprianto and Bagus Suprobo defeated Frans Kurniawan and Lingga 14-21, 21-11, 21-18.

"With East Java already playing crunch matches against Central Java, we hope our players will be in better shape than them," Budi said.

Jakarta is looking to repeat last year's victory, when it took home five of seven gold medals from PON.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |