DJARUM SUPERLIGA 2015 – Kudus face the Musica

Musica Champions took a third straight title at the Djarum Superliga with a final tie that saw major contributions from Koreans and teens on both sides.

By Don Hearn.  Photos: Badmintonphoto, Don Hearn, and Chee Ying Fan (archives)

Musica Champions returned this year to defend their Djarum Superliga men’s team title with an interesting trade-off.  Seemingly in place of long-time world men’s singles #1 Lee Chong Wei, Musica had recruited men’s doubles #1 Lee Yong Dae (pictured below).  In hindsight, two other key additions were teenagers Jonatan Christie (pictured above) and Fajar Alfian.

All seemed to be going well for Musica until, in their last group tie, Lee Yong Dae’s scratch pairing with Vladimir Ivanov lost in two games to the scratch pairing with Lee’s Asian Games final opponent Mohammad Ahsan and Berry Angriawan.  The two teams met again in Sunday’s final, however and a few things changed.

The first grudge match in the men’s team final saw Son Wan Ho reverse his fortunes against Simon Santoso, fighting back from a game down to dominate the second game and then pull out the decider.  In the first men’s doubles, Lee Yong Dae was paired with 18-year-old Fajar Alfian and this time got the better of Ahsan and Angriawan.

Like Son and Lee Yong Dae, Lee Hyun Il dropped only one match all week and like his two compatriots, he made sure it didn’t happen in the final as he scored a decisive victory over Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka.  That left each team looking to an unbeaten teenager to continue his streak.

Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (pictured top) had been successful both with and without former top 10 player Fran Kurniawan.  In the final, they had an easy time beating Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Wahyu Nayaka Arya P.

Finally, a pair of 17-year-olds took to the court to decide the winner of the final tie. Jonatan Christie was undefeated in this year’s Superliga while Ihsan Maulana Mustofa had lost to no one but Christie.  Mustofa took the first game but allowed Christie right back into it, on the back of a one-sided second game.  Christie pulled it out 3-2 to give Musica Champions a third straight title.

Final result: Musica Champions 3, Djarum Kudus 2

MS1: Simon Santoso lost to Son Wan Ho 21-16, 9-21, 17-21
MD1: Lee Yong Dae / Fajar Alfian beat Mohammad Ahsan / Berry Angriawan  16-21, 21-14, 21-15
MS2: Lee Hyun Il beat Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka  21-10, 21-7
MD2: Marcus Fernaldi Gideon / Wahyu Nayaka Arya P lost to Fran Kurniawan / Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 17-21, 11-21
MS3: Jonatan Christie beat Ihsan Maulana Mustofa  14-21, 21-11, 21-18

Click here for complete results