Asian Games 2023: Badminton Makin Suram, Anthony Ginting Also Ran Aground In Quarter Finals

Indonesian men's singles, Anthony Ginting. (Photo: Twitter @INABadminton)

JAKARTA Men's singles Anthony Sinisuka Ginting was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023. The badminton player from Cimahi, West Java was defeated by representatives of Li Shifeng in straight games 13-21, 17-21 from Li Shifeng, Thursday, October 5, 2023.

"One of the tough matches this week at the Asian Games. We have met many times before. So, in general, we already know each other's strengths and weaknesses," said Anthony.

"Only maybe this week, the opponent is confident. We can see from the journey from the team to today, he can play quite calmly."

Ginting admitted that he had tried everything, from attacking in the first game to changing the pattern of the game in the second game. He felt it was actually quite successful up to 16-16 points.

"After that, Shifeng changed the tempo and pattern of the game again. I also anticipate by changing the pattern of the game but what I said earlier was that the opponent could be calmer, unlike in previous meetings," he added.

This defeat made Indonesia have no hope of anything more than the men's singles number. Now Indonesia just has to hope for the women's singles Gregoria Mariska Tunjung who will compete after this.

Before Anthony, Indonesia had already lost representatives in the men's doubles Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto. They lost against Chinese Taipei representative Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin.

The failure of Fajar/Rian's journey made Indonesia's record of always winning medals in the men's doubles number for the Asian Games since 1962 had to stop.

For badminton, the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) targets three gold. Details of the gold target are in the men's team numbers, men's doubles, and men's singles.

However, Anthony's defeat automatically made the target certainly fail. The hope of a gold medal from badminton is now just Gregoria.