Indonesian players crush Russian team in the opening match of 2011 Sudirman Cup: Badminton News
Indonesian players proved their supremacy in badminton by beating Russian team in the opening match of the 2011 Sudirman Cup, at Qingdao, China, on Sunday, may 22. The Indonesians won the battle by a wonderful difference of 4-1.
Though Indonesia had a quivering start against Russia as Pia Zebadiah Bernadet and Fran Kurniawan of Indonesia lost the Mixed Doubles fight against Nina Vislova and Vitalij Durkin of Russia, in a straight-set match with a margin of 22-24 and 21-19.
Zebadiah Bernadet and Kurniawan remained a little shaky as they were playing in the 2011 Sudirman Cup for the first time. Both of them were inexperienced, however they found the opportunity to play in this event after the withdrawal of the top seed Lilyana
Natsir, who stayed at home because of an elbow injury.
After losing the match to the Russian opponents, Kurniawan said, “I tried not to get tense when playing the opening game in our first Sudirman Cup championship but I kept feeling nervous on the court.”
Stung by the loss of the Mixed Doubles fight, the Indonesian team promptly revenged from the Russians and left no chance for them to win any other battle in the remaining four categories including, Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Women
Doubles.
After winning the match against Russia, the Indonesian team manager, Hadi Nasri said that, “We are grateful for our victory today. It is a good opening for us, although we have to acknowledge that Fran and Pia were playing below standard. We will evaluate
the results today to better prepare us in our next fight against Malaysia.”
Before sending the Indonesian team to China, the Head Coach for Doubles, Christian Hadinata expressed his views by saying that the Sudirman Cup will serve as a testing ground for the young players who are going to make their first appearance in this major
event.
In the next match, Indonesia will face Malaysia on Wednesday, May 25. The Malaysian team is comprised on the world class shuttlers in Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles. It will be an interesting match to watch out as the winner will be the leader of the group.
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