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Friday, September 22
Indonesians celebrate fouth gold medal ever
Reuters
SYDNEY, Australia -- Amid scenes of jubilation,
Indonesians Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya defeated Lee Dong-soo
and Yoo Yong-sung of South Korea to win the Olympic badminton
men's doubles gold medal on Thursday.
The world No. 1 and top seeded pair, lifted by deafening
support from a crowd straight out of Jakarta, came through with a
15-10, 9-15, 15-7 victory after an one hour, 17 minute battle against the
world championship runners-up.
The victory was doubly welcome for the badminton-mad nation
after top seeds Kusharyanto Tri and Timur Minarti had earlier
lost the mixed doubles final to China's Zhang Jun and Gao Ling.
The victory takes Indonesia's all-time Olympic gold tally
to four -- all in badminton, a sport introduced to the Games in
1992.
The value the country places on the sport was evident from
the reception the fans gave their heroes as they entered the
arena in the Olympic Park Pavillions. Even Indonesia's Olympic
officials were out of their seats and shouting.
The very first point set the tone for the night, with the
crowd roaring in unison as each smash was dispatched.
At 3-3 there was a rally of awesome power, lightning
reflexes and sublime skill that eventually went the
Indonesians' way after 79 shots.
They took the opening game in half an hour but the
undaunted Koreans hit back strongly in the second to level it out.
The third game was just as tight, with wonderful defence
and sustained attack from both sides.
But as the Koreans tired, the favorites gradually took
charge, turning a 4-3 deficit into an unassailable 10-4 lead.
In the third-place play-off, South Koreans Ha Tae-kwon and
Kim Dong-moon added Olympic bronze to their world title with a
15-2 15-8 victory against Malaysians Tan Fook Choong and Wan Wah
Lee.
The fourth seeds were the better pair in the opening
game, merely keeping the shuttle in play and waiting for their
opponents' mistakes.
After losing the first two points of the game they won a
remarkable 15 consecutive points.
But after falling 6-1 down in the second, the Malaysians
began to make a fight of it, catching up at 7-7 only to concede a
run of six unanswered points to go down after 50 minutes.
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