JAKARTA (27 August 2018) – China emerged champions in the women and mixed doubles finals at the Istora Senayan tonight to lift their overall tally in the Asian Games badminton competition to three gold medals. The Chinese had won the men’s team gold medal here last week.
The first gold of the day went to Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan, seeded third when they powered past Japanese second seeds, Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi, 22-20, 22-20. China swept the second gold today when world No.1 mixed doubles pair of Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong outplayed Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong.
Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan, who had a 4-3 head-to-head advantage prior to tonight, showed tremendous fighting spirit to forge past Misaki-Ayaka in a closely contested final. Although trailing 17-20, Chen-Jia upped the pace and started attacking their opponents. Their efforts paid off and they came away with five straight points to win the tie.
Misaki-Ayaka, who won their last meeting at this year’s Malaysian Open, threw everything they had into the game and led 16-13 but the Chinese duo bounced back. They were tied at 17-17 before Chen-Jia led 20-18. This time, Misaki-Ayaka drew level at 20-20 but Chen-Jia powered away and won 22-20 to claim the first gold medal of the badminton competition here.
The mixed doubles final was dominated by Chen-Huang, the top seeds. As expected, they went on the offensive from the beginning and quickly sailed to a 21-8 win in the first game. With a 4-1 head-to-head record in their favour, Chen-Huang pressed on and were 13-8 up before blazing away 21-15 and claim the gold medal. Tang-Hse, who had beaten their opponents in the Malaysia Masters in January this year, tried hard but were not able to make much headway.
Meanwhile, earlier in the afternoon session, Indonesia were assured of at least one gold medal after both their men’s doubles pairs qualified for the final tomorrow.
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, the world No.1 ranked duo, along with Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto won their semi-final encounters to make it an all-Indonesian final battle. This also assures the men’s doubles gold will remain in Indonesia after Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan won the title in Incheon four years ago.
Indonesia also have a shot at a second gold as Jonatan Christie had beaten the eighth-ranked Kenta Nishimoto 21-15, 15-21, 21-19 in a nail-biting semi-final clash earlier today. It almost became another all-Indonesia final however, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting was unable to make it past fourth seed, Chou Tien Chen.
For the hosts, winning the doubles title here will ensure the gold medal remains in Indonesia after Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan were crowned the champions in Incheon four years ago. In the men’s singles, Taufik Hidayat won the gold in Doha in 2006. Taufik also won the gold four years earlier in Busan.
In the women’s singles, Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, the top seed here and bronze medallist four years ago in Incheon, will be challenged by third seed Pusarla V. Sindhu for the gold tomorrow.
“After the second game, we picked it up in the third, reduced our mistakes. I’m happy we are through. We will prepare ourselves for the final and will give our best against our teammates,” Kevin commented.
TODAY’S RESULTS
FINALS
Women’s Doubles (final)
3-Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt 2-Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Jpn) 22-20, 22-20
Mixed Doubles (final)
1-Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt 4-Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) 21-8, 21-15
SEMIFINALS
Men's Singles
Jonatan Christie (Ina) bt 8-Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 21-15, 15-21, 21-19
4-Chou Tien Chen (Tai) bt Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Ina) 16-21, 23-21, 21-17
Men’s Doubles
1-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina) bt Lee Jhe Huei-Lee Yang (Tai) 21-15, 20-22, 21-12
Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto (Ina) bt 2-Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen (Chn) 21-14, 19-21, 21-13
Women's Singles
1-Tai Tzu Ying (Tai) bt Saina Nehwal (Ind) 21-17, 21-14
3-P.V. Sindhu (Ind) bt 2-Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 21-17, 15-21, 21-10
Note: For results, please go to https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/matches.aspx?id=4B641789-C7DC-440D-99A2-4BC6D8B537EC&d=20180827
Individual Medallists Asian Games 2014
Men's singles
Gold: Lin Dan (China)
Silver: Chen Long (China)
Bronze: Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), Wei Nan (Hong Kong China)
Men's doubles
Gold: Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia)
Silver: Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong (Korea)
Bronze: Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong (Malaysia), Kim Gi-jung-Kim Sa-rang (Korea)
Women's singles
Gold: Wang Yihan (China)
Silver: Li Xuerui (China)
Bronze: Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei), Bae Yeon-ju (Korea)
Women's doubles
Gold: Nitya Krishinda Maheswari-Greysia Polii (Indonesia)
Silver: Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Japan)
Bronze: Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei (Malaysia), Tian Qing-Zhao Yunlei (China)
Mixed doubles
Gold: Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (China)
Silver: Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia)
Bronze: Praveen Jordan-Debby Susanto (Indonesia), Xu Chen-Ma Jin (China)
Team Event
Men
Gold: China
Women
Gold: Korea
