Indonesia Break 14-Year Medal Drought

A courageous performance by Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo capped off a brilliant day by Indonesia as they assured themselves of a first Uber Cup medal in 14 years.

The 19-year-old showed great temperament in the third match of the quarterfinal against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong, staying tenaciously in the game despite struggling physically through most of the third game. Her refusal to give in when the tide was turning against her finally broke Katethong’s challenge, with the world No.38 edging her higher-ranked opponent in perhaps the match of the tournament so far: 19-21 21-19 21-19.

Wardoyo frequently doubled over in exhaustion and appeared unable to move between points, but she willed herself on, helped by the sight of her teammates rooting for her.

“I was leading in the third game but I was so exhausted and I couldn’t move at all. I just tried to reset my mind and I saw my friends cheering for me and that gave me some energy and I told myself to keep pushing,” said the world No.38.

“Of course I’m happy because with this result Indonesia entered the semifinals. My opponent was very strong and it was difficult for me. I lost my group match to Japan and I learnt a lot from that defeat, so today I could control myself a lot better.”

Apriyani Rahayu & Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti

It was a perfect session for Indonesia, with Gregoria Mariska Tunjung creating the opening with her first-ever win over Ratchanok Intanon. Tunjung, who’d never beaten Intanon in eight previous encounters, finally achieved the breakthrough with a 22-20 21-18 result.

Thailand never recovered from that opening setback, and Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai’s challenge fell apart in the second game against Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.

In the other quarterfinal, Korea were comfortable winners over Chinese Taipei, winning all their matches without dropping a game.

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