JAKARTA - Jonathan Christie defeated Jia Heng Jason Teh in two straight games 21-19, 21-13 at Impact Arena Bangkok, Sunday, May 8. The victory made Indonesia lead over Singapore to 2-1 in the Thomas Cup.
Appearing in the third party, Jonathan spent 45 minutes to beat the world number 88 badminton in their inaugural meeting.
"I am grateful to be able to contribute points for Indonesia today. Today's match was not easy, yes, because there were technical problems in the field and I had to adapt to a suitable strategy," said Jonatan as quoted by ANTARA.
At the beginning of the match, Jonatan predicted that the wind and shuttlecock conditions would be similar to those of the Asian Championships in the Philippines some time ago.
However, the estimate was wrong, so the strategy he played did not have a positive impact on the development of his game. Had a 14-8 lead, Jonathan was actually overtaken and turned behind to be 16-14.
Realizing that something was wrong with his strategy, the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist swiftly changed the pattern of the game and re-locked his dominance.
"In the first game the wind won, if I picked up the ball it should have gone far. But it didn't happen at all, this has happened several times. I was surprised. So it was more about implementing the strategy, which was a bit still looking for it at the beginning," Jonatan explained.
Previously, Indonesia equalized 1-1 through the men's doubles role of Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto who won in the second party.
The world number eight pair beat Singapore's men's doubles, Hee Yong Kai Terry / Loh Kean Hean with a score of 21-14, 19-21, 21-12 which was packed for 47 minutes.
In the fourth party, the doubles match was being played between Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/Jun Liang Andy Kwek. Meanwhile, in the last match, Shesar Hiren Rhustavito will face Jia Wei Joel Koh.
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