Birdievents.com

Malaysia could not bring the gold in the badminton men group final, after losing 3-1 to Indonesia.  The first point for Indonesia was captured by Simon Santoso, who had to play hard match in the first set against a young Darren Liew with the score of 22-20, 21-12.  The second point was taken by Tommy Sugiarto in straight set, 21-12, 21-17 from Mohammard Arif Latif.  The surprising result was happening from the Indonesia's favorite, Bona/Ahsan who lost to Lim Kim Wah/ Goh Wei Sem in  the dramatic three set of 21-18, 15-21, 25-23.  The last pair of Indonesia, Kido/ Setiawan won easily 21-10, 21-14 from Mak Hee Chun/Ong Soon Hock to secure gold for the team.

In this event, Malaysia did not send the first team.  Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Beng Hong Kuan, Mohammad Hafiz Hashim and Tan Boon Heong/ Koo Kian Keat are now playing in Hong Kong Open.  Of course this result may not be so spectacular for Malaysia.  However, it shows if Malaysia secondary team is ripe and competitive to even steal a point from Indonesia who pretty much sent the top players to secure the gold.  The question is if Indonesia sent its secondary team, will it bring home the gold?

In the women badminton team event, Thailand secured the gold after winning 3-1 from Indonesia.  The Thailand young women pair Savitree Amirapai/Saralee Thoungthongkam ended the more experienced Liliyana Natsir/Vita Marissa in 3 matches 19-21, 21-16, 24-22. Another young prospect of Thailand, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk stopped Lindaweni 17-21, 21-11 and 21-16.  The climax was the match between Adriyanti Firdasari and Ratchanok Inthanon.  Frida tried to maintain the momentum in the final third set, but Ratchanok Inthanon, who was more experienced and ranked better concluded the match in the score of  12-21, 21-19, 19-21.

Taufik Hidayat, a former World and Olympic singles champion, fell 13-21, 16-21, to young Thai Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, in barely a challenge in a disappointing singles match. 

Being the highest ranked player in this 2011 Sea Games (Datuk Chong Wei is absent), Taufik had lost his touches and barely showed his enthusiasm in the match.  He did not try to attack his opponent, in fact he made mistakes on his own.  Of course, he had his own reason which he stated earlier if he did not want to participate on this event.  However, being the "best" and the highest ranked player in Indonesia, he had to participate due to nationalism.

So now, what is his prospect in Olympics 2012?  Is he still a contender or just a qualified participant?  Is he now playing just to fulfill his sponsorship obligations or to become the first person to win 2 golds in modern Olympics?

Due to his lack of performance in this semi final stage, Indonesia had decided to replace Taufik Hidayat with Simon Santoso as the 1st men player in the group final.  The 2nd men player will be Tommy Sugiarto.

JAKARTA: The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) has announced its representatives for the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, including current young legend Taufik Hidayat.

Team manager Maria Fransisca said that besides the big name of Taufik, she had also included Simon Santoso, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka and Tommy Sugiarto in the men’s singles competition.

“Adriyanti Firdasari, Lindaweni Fanetri, Maria Febe Kusumastuti and Bellatrix Manuputty will play in women’s singles,” added Maria at PBSI’s training camp in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Friday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

“Bona Septano-Mohammad Ahsan and Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan will enter the men’s doubles. Greysia Polii-Meiliana Jauhari and Vita Marissa-Nadya Melati in the women’s doubles, while Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir and Fran Kurniawan-Pia Zebadiah will compete in mixed doubles,” she added.

Indonesia’s mixed doubles coach Richard Maenaky hoped that his pairs would produce an all-Indonesian final at the Games.

Although many consider Taufik as too strong for the rest of the competition at the Games, the 31 year old said that he placed the fortunes of his country’s team above his current world No. 5 ranking.

“[I am] just like a pond, waiting for its water to run dry. I’m sure I will retire after [taking part in] the 2012 Olympics,” said Taufik.

Indonesia aims to secure four golds from the seven that are up for grabs at the Games, which will run from Nov. 11-22 in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra.