Defeated By Chen Long, Ginting Hopes To Win A Bronze Medal At The Olympics

Anthony Sinisuka Ginting/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Badminton player Anthony Sinisuka Ginting expressed his hope to be able to bring home a bronze medal for Indonesia from the inaugural Olympics in Tokyo.

He made the statement after failing to advance to the final round due to being defeated by a badminton player from China, Chen Long, in the last four of the men's singles at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.

"This (medal) will mean a lot to me. This is my first Olympics, and I've worked hard. Reaching this stage (semi-finals) is a dream come true, so I don't want to waste this opportunity," Ginting said through official information of BWF on its official website quoted Antara, Sunday, August 1st.

Ginting's opponents in the semifinals were athletes who were full of salt. From his long experience, Chen Long has already collected two Olympic medals.

His first medal was a bronze which was won in London 2012. It was only in Rio 2016, that Chen Long won a gold medal.

Ginting admitted that it was difficult to play against Chen Long. In the 56-minute match, Ginting, who had played optimally, still could not break the dominance of his opponent.

"I saw that his game today was different from our previous meetings. He didn't pick up the ball often, that's why he could control the game from start to finish. He also didn't make mistakes, he was a very focused player," said Ginting about Chen Long's game.

Despite his disappointment, the 2018 Asian Games silver medal winner is still determined to win the bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympics.

In the deciding match on Monday at 18.00 western Indonesia time, he will face Guatamela badminton player Kevin Cordon.

"I was disappointed with the game earlier because it was not easy to get here (semi-finals), but it can't be helped. There will be winners and losers, but I have to get up as soon as possible because tomorrow there is another important match," Ginting said.

After this Ginting will focus on resting and hope that his stamina can recover for tomorrow's decisive match.