Defeated By India During Thomas Cup Final, Jonathan 'Jojo' Christie Admits It Is Difficult To Overcome Field Conditions

Jonathan Christie after the medal presentation session for the runners-up of the 2022 Thomas Cup in Bangkok, Thailand (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The men's singles badminton player, Jonatan Christie, shared that the field conditions were difficult to predict, which made his strategy not work well when he appeared in the deciding match for the 2022 Thomas Cup final against India in Bangkok, Sunday, May 15th.

"Today's match was very different from the previous one, from the stadium atmosphere, the field was quite windy, to the shuttlecock which was quite heavy and unstable. I had a hard time predicting the strokes," said Jonatan when met after the medal presentation session.

Jonathan, who appeared in the third party, lost two straight games to Srikanth Kidambi with a score of 15-21, 21-23. This defeat made Indonesia unable to defend the title after being swept 0-3 by India.

From the unfavorable field conditions, Jonathan then used the wrong strategy. He played a slow rhythm and made a lot of long passes, which he realized later was a mistake in the third game.

According to the eighth-ranked badminton player, he should have played more daring and aggressive from the start to put pressure on Srikanth.

"Indeed, the most important thing from the field conditions, we cannot change that. What we can do is change the way we play. I should have been more reckless and attacking, because in conditions like this, we have to play efficiently and aggressively," said Jonathan.

In addition, Indonesia's position, which is 0-2 behind India, also affected the mentality of the PB Tangkas club dropout. When he entered the field, Jonathan admitted that he was trying to remember the two victories he had picked up against Srikanth before.

Even though he tried to think positively, he still felt a heavy feeling because the fate of the Red and White Squad in the final round was in his hands.

"I've tried not to think about it (lost). Even though I was tense, I tried to think positively from the previous two wins. It turned out that it wasn't good to be behind 0-2 and have to win. But I tried my best and that was the result," he said.