WORLD JUNIORS 2013 Team SF – Indonesia in 1st Suhandinata Cup final

Korea and Indonesia will meet in Sunday’s final of the Suhandinata Cup, the mixed team event at the 2013 BWF World Junior Championships being held this year in Bangkok, Thailand. Korea secured their place in the finals with a 3-1 victory over Japan, and Indonesia narrowly beat China 3-2, in a contest that was decided in the third game of the fifth and final match.

Story and photos: Gerald Jew, Badzine correspondent live in Bangkok

The four top-seeded teams all made it to the semi-finals of the 2013 edition of the Suhandinata Cup that saw the top-seeded and defending champion Chinese team fall to 3^rd seeded Indonesia in a mild upset, and marked the first time Indonesia has made it to the final of the World Junior team event. The Chinese team failed to reach the finals for the first time in the tournament’s history, excluding the 2011 edition held in Taipei, where the Chinese team did not participate.

China won the opening boys’ doubles match, Liu Yuchen and Zheng Siwei defeating Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Arya Maulana Aldiartama easily in a 24-minute affair. Indonesia took the next two matches, winning the girls’ singles with Hanna Ramadini displaying a patient and disciplined game in her defeat of Qin Jinjing.

Indonesia’s strongly-built Jonatan Christie (pictured above) then showed off his power game, defeating Shi Yuqi in a 38-minute two-game match. The 16-year-old Christie, who made it to the quarter-finals of this year’s Indonesia Grand Prix Gold tournament, showed he will be a player to watch in next week’s Eye Level Cups, the individual segment of the WJC.

After losing the first game of their match, China’s girls’ doubles pair of Huang Dongping and Jia Yifan took the next two games over Rosyita Eka Putri Sari and Setyana Daniella Florensia Mapasa to send the team competition to a deciding fifth match. Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, playing his second match of the day, teamed with Masita Mahmudin in the mixed doubles to take the final two games of the match after losing the first game, and placing Indonesia in tomorrow’s final against Korea.

Korea’s back

Korea had a slightly easier path to tomorrow’s finals, winning the boys’ and girls’ singles and the mixed doubles, while losing only the boys’  doubles.  Korea thus returns to the Suhandinata Cup final after being shut out last year for only the second time in the event’s history.

Korea began their path to victory with an opening 35-minute win in the mixed doubles that saw two-time Asian Junior Champions Choi Sol Kyu and Chae Yoo Jung defeat Japan’s pair of runners-up from last year, Takuto Inoue and Akane Yamaguchi.

The boys’ singles saw Jeon Hyuk Jin defeat Yusuke Onodera.  Jeon, who was runner-up at this year’s Asian Juniors, needed 53 minutes to take the match in three. Japan then took the boys’ doubles with Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi getting the better of Choi Sol Kyu and Heo Kwang Hee in two straight games.

In the last match of the competition, Korea’s Kim Hyo Min and Asian Junior Champion Aya Ohori (pictured above) played a tough one hour thirteen minute, three-game match that saw Kim finally prevail in a close third game, 21-19.

After the match, Korean coach Kim Joong Soo said about Sunday’s final, “I think Indonesia played very well today and tomorrow will be very close. Indonesia and Korea will be a tough match, but I’m hoping that we will win.  We are confident that we can win.

“We’ll probably play the same players that we did today, but I might change the men’s doubles. I’m not sure yet, I’ll think about it tonight.”

The Suhandinata Cup mixed team event has only been in competition since 2000, and Sunday’s final will feature Korea, which won its only WJC team event in 2006 against an Indonesian team in its first-ever final looking for its first-ever victory.

For complete Saturday results and scores, please click here