AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2013 Finals – Indonesia’s young guns triumph

Indonesia saw success in the doubles disciplines in Australia, including first ever Grand Prix title for mixed pair Fadhilah/Anggraini and and first ever Grand Prix Gold for Pratama/Saputra.

By Rudy Chandra, Badzine correspondent live in Sydney.  Photos: Badmintonphoto and ABO Media (archives)

There was a lot of crowd support for Indonesian mixed doubles pair Irfan Fadhilah / Weni Anggraini as they faced Koreans Shin Baek Cheol / Jang Ye Na earlier today. Fadhilah/Anggraini know their opponent Shin Baek Cheol, having met him on previous occasions with different partners. A very close match saw the Indonesians take the title, as they came through 21-14 22-24 21-16.

The Indonesians started brilliantly, controlling both the back and front of the court, leading the entire first game to finish comfortably.

Fadhilah/Anggraini obviously did not want to take this to the third game, but Shin/Jang showed their resilience as they forced the Indonesians into extra points, to take their second chance to finish the game. The fighting spirit and their never-give-up attitude force the match into the third game.

With support from a strong Indonesian contingent in the crowd, Fadhilah/Anggraini started well to lead 13-11, but not giving up, the Koreans levelled at 13-all. The Indonesian pair scored 4 consecutive points with hard smashes and tight net cord shots to take the game away from Shin/Jang, ultimately ending the Korean resistance and the match 21-16.

Speaking after the match, Fadhilah said: “In the first game we led comfortably, but we know our opponents and expected them to fight more in the second game. We let off a bit and handed them the second game. But we already expected a tough game, and we are very happy to have won the match.”

He went on to offer nothing but praise for his opponent, “Shin is a very good player, he has a lot of power on his smash and covers a lot of court. We’ve met before and it is always decided in the third game.”

Young guns edge their team-mates

Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan had been brilliant on their smooth run to finals day, where they met their compatriots, Ryan Agung Saputro and Angga Pratama. The younger Indonesian pair showed that they are ready to take over the role of first choice pair in the men’s doubles discipline with a close victory in the final.

Stopped last year in the semi-final by Setiawan, then playing with Markis Kido, Angga Pratama and Ryan Agung Saputra started the match with far less pressure given their underdog status. Both pairs were expectedly good at finding holes in the other’s defense given their close trained regimes together.

The game lasted just 31 minutes dominated by short and fast-paced rallies. The first game saw Setiawan / Ahsan unable to convert their 2 game points and ended up conceding the game to their opponents.

From 6-all in the second, Pratama / Saputra did not go behind and were able to close the match 22-20 21-19.

“We always try to kill the shuttle quickly, because they have a very good defense. Although there are some mis-hits, we have done the job and are very happy to get our first title for 2013,” said Saputra after the match.

The full finals day results can be found here.