Golden Hopes From Greysia Polii And Apriani Rahayu In Tokyo Olympics Women's Doubles Badminton Final

JAKARTA - Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu secured a ticket to the final round of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after eliminating South Korean women's doubles Lee Sohee / Shin Seungchan, Saturday, July 31. Indonesia really hopes from this phenomenal women's doubles to donate a gold medal after hopes in the men's doubles sector were dashed.

In the quarter-final match which took place on Saturday at Field 1 Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo, Japan, Greysia/Apriyani defeated the pair from ginseng country in two straight games with a score of 21-19, 21-17 in 68 minutes, as quoted by the BWF website by Between.

On paper, Lee/Shin are more favored because they are ranked fourth in the world, while Greysia/Apriyani. is in sixth place in the world.

The battle between the two pairs has been tight since the first game. Lee/Shin won the first two points. After that Greysia / Apriyani chased and continued to stick tight until the position was tied at 11-11.

However, after that, Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu took the lead. They took over the game, while their opponents were still trailing and were able to equalize several times, namely at 18-18 and 19-19.

With two hard smashes, Greysia/Apriyani won the last two points to then lead 21-19 in the first game.

Entering the second game, the competition is getting tougher. Both partners are both providing aggressive resistance, neither one wants to give up so easily.

At the beginning of the game, they were chasing each other's numbers and outperforming each other. But after hitting the points 5-5, Lee/Shin advanced, stealing the next points through fast play and accurate balls.

Entering the interval, Greysia/Apriyani was only two points behind their opponent, 9-11. The Indonesian pair then tried to compensate for the opponent by playing more calmly and not in a hurry. As a result, they can make the position back to a draw 11-11. The two pairs then returned to chasing each other's points. However, Greysia/Apriyani dominates. After points 16-16, Greysia / Apriyani shot.

They appear more confident to secure the next points. Lee/Shin left behind, their shots often went off the field. Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu ended the match with a 21-17 victory.

With these results, Greysia/Apriyani has the right to proceed to the final round. They still have to wait for the result of the match between the South Korean pair Kim Soyeong/Kong Heeyong against the second seed from China Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan.

The winner of the match will later become an opponent for Greysia / Apriyani in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics final.

Apart from Greysia Polii / Apriyani Rahayu, Indonesia also has one representative who will appear in the quarter-final match on Saturday, namely the men's singles Anthony Sinisuka Ginting against the third seed from Denmark Anders Antonsen at 10.20 WIB.