SEA Games: Taufik Hidayat meekly loses to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in Team Event’s semi-final
Indonesia’s former World and Olympic Champion again fails to find his winning run as he lost to Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in the Men’s Team Event’s semi-final of the South East Asian (SEA) Games, at Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday, November 13.
The World Number Eight Taufik has been struggling hard to find his lost form for the last 10 months and has failed to win any major event in the current year. He failed to put up good show in front of his home crowd in the semi-final of Men’s Team Events against the upcoming Thai shuttler and lost the match in straight sets.
Saensomboonsuk opened his campaign against the Indonesian in a scintillating fashion as he played with precision and aggression from the initial points of the game. The Thai was controlling the rallies in a superb way which indicates that he is ready to enter into the higher level of badminton.
In the first half of the set, Saensomboonsuk was progressing far ahead of the Vietnamese and reached at 11-5. He was playing flawless badminton against Taufik who was struggling hard to pick the bird early at the net. The Thai was playing beautiful badminton at the net as his spinning net strokes earned him wonderful advantage and he won the first game by a margin of 21-13.
In the second game, the Indonesian played better game by putting more speed in his movements in all areas of the court. The score remained close in the first half of the set but the Thai started to take lead by playing an attacking game. He started to smash the bird hard and came fast at the net to dominate the rallies.
After the break, Saensomboonsuk continued his roller coaster run in the match against the higher ranked Taufik, who failed to play his normal game and was looking a little slower as compared to his Thai opponent. He many mistakes which helped Saensomboonsuk to finish up the second set with the margin of 21-16.
This Team Event battle of SEA Games ended up with the victory of score of Saensomboonsuk by a margin of 21-13 and 21-16.
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