Korea Masters 2023: Ester Successfully Secures Semifinal Tickets

JAKARTA Women's singles badminton player Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo maintains Indonesia's hope by stepping into the semifinals of the Korea Masters 2023.

Ester locked down the victory in the quarter-finals of the Super 300 BWF in two straight games 21-19 and 21-19 against Pornpicha Choekeewong at the Gwangju Women's University Stadium, Friday, November 10, 2023.

This victory also beautifies Ester's winning-loss record over Pornpicha to 4-1. This is also Ester's third straight win over the Thai representative.

"Praise God for being able to finish the game unharmed and given another win. In today's game I was able to overtake the game initiative from the opponent, I kept the ball out of his reach and made him run. It was profitable for me," said Ester after the match.

During the match Ester fell up. He was quite comfortable leading at the start of the two games, but was overtaken by the opponent after the interval in each game due to lack of concentration.

"Luckily I was able to return to my game and take control of the game again. It was a bit tense at critical points, but I was able to restore my confidence by playing more attacking," said Ester.

In the semifinals tomorrow Ester will meet Tomoka Miyazaki. The Japanese women's singles, qualified for the top four after stopping their seventh-seeded compatriot, Natik Nidaira.

"Tomorrow in the semifinals they meet Japanese women's singles, they are famous for their tenacity so I have to be ready to play tired, I have to be ready to play rallies, also my feet have to move faster," said Ester.

Ester is the only Indonesian representative left in this event out of a total of seven representatives sent by the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI).