Nugroho Lukhi Apri and Amelia Ririn win Mixed Doubles title at Badminton Asia Junior Championships
Indonesia’s Nugroho Lukhi Apri and Amelia Ririn clinched the Mixed Doubles title after beating Pei Tianyi and Ou Dongni of China, in the final showdown of the 2011 Badminton Asia Junior Championships, at Lucknow, on Saturday, July 9.
The Indonesians delivered a superb performance in the title-match against the Chinese couple and won the encounter in three games by taking 55 minutes of court time. It was one of the most interesting fights of the day, where both couples remained toe-to-toe
until the final points, where the Indonesians played a fascinating game and won the battle.
Nugroho and Amelia opened the game in a nervous manner as they made many unforced mistakes in the start, which helped the Chinese couple to take over the game. Until the end of the first part, Tianyi and Dongni were ahead of the Indonesians at 11-7.
The Indonesian couple changed their tactics after getting back into the court from the one-minute break. They played fast badminton at the net, but their control over the pace of the rallies was not that good as they hit many shots out of the court or in
the net. This negative play of the Indonesians became the reason for their opening set loss with the score of 15-21, in 16 minutes.
However, Nugroho and Amelia made a tremendous comeback in the second set, where they kept their speed quite high and showed no sign of slowing down in the whole game. The Chinese failed to continue their winning play in this game against the spirited Indonesians.
Nugroho and Amelia were playing to their full potential and won the set by a margin of 21-16, in 17 minutes.
The third set was a breathtaking fight between the two couples as the score reached at the crucial stage of 23-23. The Indonesian couple were lucky as they managed to score two consecutive points and finished-off the game by a 25-23 margin, in 22 minutes.
The ending score of this interesting 55-minute fight was 15-21, 21-16 and 25-23.
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