Praveen/Melati Lead Indonesia To 3-2 Win Over Denmark, Win Sudirman Cup Group C

Praveen/Jasmine (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti mixed doubles successfully reversed the Indonesian team's lead to 3-2 over Denmark and at the same time brought the Red and White team to win Group C of the Sudirman Cup in Finland, Wednesday.

Launching Antara, in the match which was held at Field 1 Energia Areena, Vantaa, Finland, Praveen/Melati brought Mathias Thyrri/Amalie Magelund to their knees in two straight games with a score of 21-8, 21-17.

It was not difficult for Praveen/Melati to win the first game. They played confidently throughout the game. Attack after attack they launched, while the opponent was unable to block.

Praveen/Melati were initially only 6-5 away from Thyrri/Magelund. But then the Indonesian pair continued to widen the gap to 15-6 and 19-7.

With the last two smashes, Praveen/Melati won the first game with a landslide score of 21-8.

In the second game, the Danish duo gave quite a fierce resistance. However, Praveen/Melati also fought back. Both were a 5-5 draw.

After that, the turn of Praveen/Melati took the lead, while Thyrri/Magelund continued to stick tight. The position is again tied at 12-12.

However, after that Praveen / Melati increased the tempo of the game. They play faster when returning the balls from their opponents. Slowly but surely, Praveen / Melati continued to advance and closed the second game with a final score of 21-17.

With these results, Indonesia turned 3-2 ahead over Denmark and was entitled to advance to the quarter-finals as winners of Group C.

Besides Praveen/Melati, two Garuda representatives also contributed to the winning points, namely the men's doubles Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo who beat Mads Pieler Kolding/Frederik Sogaard with a score of 21-19, 21-15.

Then, the women's doubles, Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu, won a straight game over Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen with a score of 21-17, 21-9.

Meanwhile, two Indonesian representatives had to lose, namely the women's singles Kusuma Wardani and the men's singles bronze medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

Putri had to acknowledge the greatness of Mia Blichfeldt through the rubber game 11-21, 21-16, 14-21, while Ginting was forced to her knees 9-21, 15-21 by the world's third-ranked player Anders Antonsen.

At the 2021 Sudirman Cup, Indonesia joined in Group C along with Denmark, Canada and NBFR (National Badminton Federation of Russia).

At the end of the group stage, Indonesia finished as the top of Group C, while Denmark took second place. Meanwhile, NBFR ranked third, followed by Canada in the last position.

Furthermore, Indonesia still has to wait for the draw to determine its opponent in the quarter-finals, which will be held on Friday the day after tomorrow.