Malaysia Takes Revenge, Indonesia Becomes Runner Up At BATC 2022

Badminton player Ikhsan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay (PR PBSI)

JAKARTA – The Indonesian men's team lost to Malaysia in the final of the Asian Team Badminton Championships (BATC). The Red and White squad was bent by a landslide score of 3-0 by their rivals.

Ikhsan Leonardo Immanuel Rumbay, who played in the third match, decided the fate of Indonesia. He lost in straight sets to Ng Tze Yong at the Setia City Convention Center, Selangor, Malaysia, on Sunday 20 February.

This defeat made the Garuda squad have to settle for being runners up in the competition which became the Thomas and Uber Cup qualifiers. In addition, this result makes Indonesia also failed to defend the title.

When Ikhsan took to the field, Malaysia was already leading 2-0 over Indonesia. That was due to the defeat of Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo's men's singles against Lee Zii Jia and Leo Rolly Carnando/Daniel Marthin were bent by Aaron Chia/Wooi Yik So.

As a determinant, Ikhsan seemed to be under pressure. He often made his own mistakes so that his opponent was able to lead with a big gap 6-1 early in the first set.

He came back after that and managed to level the score, but was still trailing 11-6 at the interval. After the break, Ikhsan still found it difficult to put up a fight and could only add eight points, while the opponent continued to keep the score apart and managed to come out as a 21-14 winner.

Ikhsan, who had been left behind since the start of the second set, had made the match exciting at the interval with only one point left. However, the opponent did not give him the opportunity to equalize the score until he finished this set with a score of 21-15.

Victory over Indonesia became revenge for Malaysia. In the previous edition, Garuda's squad was entitled to the title after defeating the neighboring country in the Philippines.

From this event, Indonesia only brought home the title through the women's team. Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and friends managed to grab the first title in the history of the competition after successfully winning over South Korea with a score of 3-1.