Meiliana Jauhari, Greysia Polii clear first hurdle in group stage of London Olympics 2012
Women’s Doubles campaigners Meiliana Jauhari-Greysia Polii started their race to glory with a splendid win over Leanne Choo-Renuga Veeran in opening match of London Olympics on July 28, 2012.
This Group C encounter held at court number 2 of Wembley Arena and both contenders pushed each other all the way to three gruelling sets before reading final result of 21-11, 20-22 and 21-13.
The Indonesian duo displayed supreme badminton skills and locked the victory by prevailing in opening and ending parts of the battle.
On the other hand, the twosome of Leanne and Renuga could live its moment of glory only in middle of the tussle.
World Number 12 pair Meiliana-Greysia laid foundation of their dominance when they clinched four vital points straight away in the beginning of first set.
They put the opposing team under huge pressure by registering a respectable total of 7-4 and then made best out of this initial advantage to put 11-5 figure before half time.
Later part of the game completely belonged to them as they controlled overall pace of the rallies and bagged first set with a notable difference in concluding margin of 21-11.
However, they lost this rhythm in very next game and frittered away a golden chance of a straight-set win.
In first half, they were enjoying a comfortable advantage until 6-2 but then couple of unforced errors triggered the collapse.
The Australian shuttlers did not miss this opportunity and counterbalanced the situation with four successive points.
They managed to go with the same flow and placed a decent figure of 11-9 before the announcement of the break.
After one-minute interval, both teams strived hard to oust the opponent but none of them could make a difference until game point situation.
Finally, Leanne and Renuga finished this nerve-racking set with a favourable score of 22-20.
The decider became crucial as both contenders were standing on the same level with one win each.
They made the crowd gasp with their breath taking performance in the first half but second half turned into a dead contest as the Indonesian couple struck hard and cast out their competitors with 21-13 margin.
Now Meiliana-Greysia will lock horns with another lower ranked team Michelle Claire Edwards-Annari Viljoen of South Africa.
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