Bangkok: Indonesia has emerged as the champion of Group B after overcoming Korea 3-2 on Wednesday in the 2018 Thomas Cup Finals.
As the leader of Group B, the Indonesian team has drawn to play Malaysia (the runner-up of Group D) on Thursday.
Indonesia opened the Wednesday evening with Anthony Sinisuka Ginting losing to South Korea’s Son Wan Ho 20-22, 20-22.
“I made a lot of unforced errors, and my attacks weren’t working because Son was playing very good defense,” said Ginting.
World number one men’s pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon who were stunned by Kittisak Namdash/Nipitphon Phuangphuapet of Thailand 16-21, 21-13 and 12-21 on Tuesday, seemed still struggling but were able to regroup to outlast Korean pair Chung Eui-seok/Kim Won-ho 21-11, 14-21 and 21-10 to level the score at 1-1 in the best-of-five match series.
“I was called for many service faults. So, basically, it’s only one person (Kevin) playing against two Korean players,” said an unhappy Gideon.
Jonatan Christie failed to give Indonesia a 2-1 lead as he went down to Heo Kwang-hee 17-21, 19-21 in the second men’s singles match.
However, former World Champions Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan levelled the tie for Indonesia as they best Choi Sol-gyu/Kim Duk-young 21-14, 18-21 and 21-15.
With pressure on his shoulders to take care of the business, Firman Abdul Kholik was stretched to the limit by Ha Young-woong but he didn’t disappoint by claiming the win for Indonesia with a 20-22, 21-15, 21-12 against Ha.
Here are the Thomas Cup quarter-final ties on Thursday:
China vs Chinese Taipei
Korea vs Denmark
France vs Japan
Indonesia vs Indonesia
