Thomas Cup: Jojo's Perfect Revenge On Antonsen

Jonathan Christie (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Indonesia's men's singles badminton player, Jonatan Christie, said he was happy to be able to contribute a winning number for the Indonesian team in the Thomas Cup semifinals as well as avenge his defeat to Danish player Anders Antonsen.

In the match that took place at Ceres Arena, Aarhus, Denmark, Saturday night Indonesian time, Jojo, Jonatan Christie's nickname, beat Antonsen through the rubber game 25-23, 15-21, 21-16 in 1 hour 40 minutes.

Previously at the Indonesia Masters 2020 tournament in Jakarta, which was the last meeting between Jojo and Antonsen, the Danish player defeated Jojo in three games which ended with a score of 21-14, 10-21, 21-12.

“I am happy to be able to contribute numbers for Indonesia. Antonsen once beat me in Jakarta which is my hometown. Now it's my turn to beat Antosen in his birthplace (Denmark)," Jojo said, as reported by Antara, Sunday.

For the 24-year-old player, the principle in competing is not to lose. Therefore, Jojo said he was happy with his performance today because he was able to overcome all of Antonsen's resistance.

“My principle in competing is, I just don't want to lose, that's all. I am happy with my performance today. We know Antonsen is a good player and his performances improved after the last Tokyo Olympics," said Jojo.

On paper, Antonsen is indeed more favored because he is currently the third men's singles in the world, while Jojo is in seventh place. However, from their previous seven meetings, Jojo still holds a 4-3 advantage over Antonsen.

"What I saw in the match was that he (Antonsen) was tense. The punches that had always been his mainstay didn't even come out because I kept watching over him. I can control the game," said Jojo.

“We knew before the game started, Denmark was favored to win because they have strong single players. However, we also have strong doubles. So if we can beat one of their single players, we have a chance to win," he added.