WORLDS 2015 SF – No win for Weni Fanetri

The singles finalists are known for the 2015 BWF World Badminton Championships and Indonesia’s Linda Weni Fanetri was unable to make it past Saina Nehwal, while Lee and Chen will face off again in the men’s.

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent live in Jakarta.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Saina Nehwal will play a repeat of the All England final against Carolina Marin, after she shut down this week’s upset queen Linda Weni Fanetri in straight games.  Once again, Linda played as though there were no difference in ranking between her and her opponent, sticking with her opponent until the world #2 pulled away in each game.

“I think today was one of the toughest matches for me in the tournament because I was playing against the crowd and the stadium was full,” said Saina after her match.  “Most of the points that I lost were because of the pressure I was under.

“Linda was playing very well, without any tension.  With the way she was playing from the first round, I had that tension in my mind and yesterday again, she was match point 14-20 down and she won the match.  At any point, I was not relaxed against her.  I was very alert on each and every point and I think that’s how I was able to pull out the match.

“I never thought I would reach so far [in the tournament] but Indonesia is one of my favourite places, I’ve always done well here, and I hope in tomorrow’s match as well that I do well.  Of course, Carolina is one of the toughest contenders in the tournament.”

The crowd was at its expected fever pitch throughout the match; however, the atmosphere changed very suddenly.  Partway through the second game, the scoreboards went black, failing to show the graphic when Saina Nehwal challenged a line call.  When they came back on, the crowd erupted into a deafening roar when the spectators realized they were showing the wrong score.

“I was just thinking about the challenge because it didn’t show up on the screen,” said Saina when asked, after the match, about the incident.  “Then the score came back and the crowd started shouting.  From then, it was disturbing because it was too much.

“Later on, after the match I found out that the score was incorrect but I didn’t know it during the match because I was still thinking about the challenge.  I think it was quite strange.  I was looking at the screen, it was 13-14 and then suddenly the screen went black.”

Asked how she will react in the final if the crowd is supporting Marin, Saina said, “I’m sure it won’t be like today.  Today was too much, the crowd was playing against me.

“But as I said, I love the Indonesian crowd, I love playing here, it’s just that I have to play my game, I can’t give up points just by getting scared because of the crowd.

“Of course Carolina is a lefthander, so she’s quite tricky and she’s got fast-paced strokes so the match is going to be quite tough.  I played her in the All England.  That was a different condition altogether.  You never know how it’s going to be but it’s going to be a very tough challenge.

Chen Long to be challenged by Lee Chong Wei again

Lee Chong Wei has booked his spot to feature in the final of the sixth main event of the last eight summers.  After playing Lin Dan for the coveted gold medal in two Olympics and at two World Championships, his opponent changed and last year it was Chen Long who relegated Lee to silver.

This year, Lee Chong Wei was spared a semi-final against Lin Dan, which is what tripped him up at last year’s Asian Games, and this came in the form of Denmark’s Jan Jorgensen.  The Dane, however, was not up to the task of defeating the long-time world #1 Malaysian and he went down in two rather quick games.

“I was very focussed and I really think that I played 100% today,” said Lee after the match.  “In the first game, I got the first five points and I kept on pushing and kept on attacking and I got the game easily and I became confident because of the first game.

“I watched the video of Lin Dan yesterday because I wanted to study Jorgensen.  I think he made a lot of easy mistakes. Maybe the drift was changing so he couldn’t get his momentum and he put a lot of shots out so he just couldn’t play at his rhythm.

“Last year and this year are a very different job.  I was out of competition for 8 months and I’m in the final again but I am also unseeded and in the final,” Lee cautioned about comparisons between this and last year’s final.

“Not much to say about the first game,” said Jan Jorgensen.  “You can say I had forgotten how to play against Lee Chong Wei.  It’s been a long time since I’ve played him and I forgot the pace and the speed he has.  It’s very special.  Nobody else in the world has that speed.

“In my opinion, the second game should have been the first and then we should have played.  I’m very disappointed with the first game.  I wasn’t prepared for the speed. Then in the second game, I could feel that he really wanted to take it and I started to play a lot better.  I showed some of the good stuff I’ve been doing here this week.

“When you face Lin Dan, you use a lot of mental energy to prepare and to play the legend.  You have to play the man who is standing in front of you instead of the legend.  That is a mental obstacle and you need to be aware of that and you need to be in the moment and I think I underestimated a bit how much energy that cost.

“And then I underestimated Lee Chong Wei and his speed and he’s hungry and you can feel it and he wants this.  You need to come up with something special and I didn’t do that.”

Asked for his assessment of Lee Chong Wei’s chances in the final, Jorgensen replied curtly, “I think he’ll win.”

Asked how it feels to win a bronze medal, Jorgensen replied, “Very, very, very, very, very good,” drawing laughter from the assembled journalists.

“I know I’ve been talking about a bad first game, second game but I just want to say that I’m really happy to get on the podium tomorrow.  I’m getting goose bumps now because it’s been a dream since I was a little kid.  It’s very special to me, especially after last year’s exit and winning that game here yesterday against that crowd here in Istora Senayan was very special to me.”

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