China beat Indonesia to win men's badminton title

World
Europe

01:08

The Chinese badminton men's team beat hosts Indonesia 3-1 in the final at the 18th Asian Games on Wednesday evening.

Chinese men's team, the 2018 Thomas Cup winner, stood atop Asia for the sixth time and undoubtedly made amends for their loss to then hosts South Korea four years ago.

After losing the first game 21-14 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, China's Shi Yuqi had to save two match points in the second game to force a decider at 23-21.

However, Ginting appeared to suffer from a hamstring injury and called for a medical timeout. As the injury got worse, Ginting decided to give up when trailing at 20-21 and had to be stretchered off.

In a highly-anticipated doubles clash, world champions Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen failed to stop world No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from marching on 21-17, 21-18.

Chen Long put China in front again as the Olympic champion prevailed on 20-year-old Jonatan Christie in full sets.

Chen Long of China competes against Jonatan Christie of Indonesia during men's team final match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta. /VCG Photo

After building a 7-3 lead into the duel, Chen had several misjudgments to let his opponent turn the proceedings. He surrendered a 19-17 advantage to lose the opening game 21-19.

Chen regrouped himself to surge from midway through the second game to triumph 21-16.

In front of thousands of jubilant home crowds, Christie led 11-9 at the changeover of the decider, but Chen steadied his nerves for a 21-18 victory.

"My teammates told me to fight every ball against my opponent. Whenever I led or trailed, they showed full support for me. I was quite happy about winning for the team," said Chen.

Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan, the 2017 world champion, sealed China's title after upsetting Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto 21-18, 17-21, 21-18.

Japan players celebrate victory after beating China during women's team final match. /VCG Photo

However, China failed to snatch its sixth consecutive gold medal in women's team after losing to top-seeded Japan 3-1.

The Chinese women shuttlers kicked off their winning trip back to 1998 in Bangkok.

Top singles player Chen Yufei propelled China to leading position through her 21-15, 21-12 victory over Yamaguchi Akane.

Japan made their response as world No. 1 pairing Fukushima Yuki and Hirota Sayaka marched past Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan 21-12, 21-17.

That attached more importance to the duel between second singles options, He Bingjiao of China and Japanese Okuhara Nozomi.

After losing the first game 21-16, He survived an injury scare in saving a ball during the second game. She returned to the court after a medical check, and went on to savor the victory of 21-19 to force a decider.

"It was all about a bad move when I saved that ball. I had a little feeling then. It was fine, not affecting my performance too much, but mentally I was concerned about it," He recalled.

He dug herself in a hole of 6-17 in the third game, before nailing the next eight points to whittle down the deficit to three points. But she could not inch closer to Okuhara, who closed out the game 21-15.

"Competing with Okuhara was a learning process for me," said He.

In their debut at the tournament, Huang Dongping and Zheng Yu lost to Olympic champions Matsutomo Misaki and Takahashi Ayaka 21-16, 21-11.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency