JAKARTA - Indonesia's chances of winning a gold medal in the men's doubles sector at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were dashed after the world number two pair Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan were defeated by Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Taiwan in the semifinals, Friday.
The Daddies lost in two straight games 11-21, 10-21 in a 28-minute match at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo.
The Daddies had taken the lead at the start of the first game 3-0, but it was Ahsan's return that hit the net and gave Lee/Wang the first point.
Since then, Lee/Wang continued to press for more points and were able to equalize 5-5, until the advantage was reversed at 8-11 in the first interval.
Lee/Wang continued to have the upper hand by making seven points in a row with their batting speed. The Daddies were only able to add three points in the first game, before finally ending in a 11-21 defeat after struggling for 13 minutes.
Hendra/Ahsan again experienced difficulties in the second game due to the fast tempo game presented by the men's doubles, which was one rank below them.
Lee/Wang displayed a quick and hard return of the punches. Meanwhile Hendra/Ahsan kept trying to smash and drop shots but failed to penetrate Lee/Wang who always played from the front zone.
The Daddies were forced to give up in the second game with a final score of 10-21 after struggling 14 minutes.
This defeat changed the record of the meeting between the two pairs to 6-5, as well as the third defeat in a row for The Daddies. Lee/Wang also defeated Hendra/Ahsan at the Thailand Open 2021 and the BWF World Tour Finals which took place in Bangkok, January.
Even though they failed to make it to the last four, Hendra/Ahsan still have the chance to win a bronze medal. Hendra/Ahsan is still waiting for the match between Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik (Malaysia) and Li Jun Hui/Liu Yu Chen (China) who are still competing in the semifinals.
The bronze medal match and the final will take place on Saturday.
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