China overcome Indonesia to claim men's badminton crown at Asian Games

Xinhua

The Chinese shuttlers survived heated atmosphere to beat hosts Indonesia 3-1 in the men's team final at the 18th Asian Games on Wednesday evening.

Chinese men's team, the 2018 Thomas Cup winner, stood atop Asia for the sixth time, and undoubtedly made amends for their loss to then hosts South Korea four years ago.

After losing the first game 21-14 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, China's Shi Yuqi had to save two match points in the second game to force a decider at 23-21.

The two players went neck-and-neck in the first half of the decider. Despite cutting the deficit to one point at 15-16, Ginting appeared to suffer hamstring and called for a medical timeout.

Ginting was further hampered afterwards as he could not completely make his moves, but he managed to possess a set point at 20-19 due to Shi's error.

However, as the injury got worse, Ginting decided to give up when trailing at 20-21, and had to be stretchered off.

"I became more concentrated when fighting back in the second game, trying not to concede too many errors. I fully trusted myself and fought until the end," Shi pointed out.

In a highly-anticipated doubles clash, world champions Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen failed to stop world No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from marching on 21-17, 21-18.

Chen Long put China in front again as the Olympic champion prevailed on 20-year-old Jonatan Christie in full sets.

After building a 7-3 lead into the duel, Chen had several misjudgment to let his opponent turn the proceedings. He surrendered a 19-17 advantage to lose the opening game 21-19.

Chen regrouped himself to surge from midway through the second game to triumph 21-16.

In front of thousands of jubilant home crowds, Christie led 11-9 at the changeover of the decider, but Chen steadied his nerves for a 21-18 victory.

"My teammates told me to fight every ball against my opponent. Whenever I led or trailed, they showed full support for me. I was quite happy about winning for the team," said Chen.

Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan, the 2017 world champion, sealed China's title after upsetting Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto 21-18, 17-21, 21-18.

Chinese Taipei and Japan shared the bronze medals of the men's team event.

Earlier on Wednesday, Japan extinguished China's hope of winning the sixth straight title by triumphing 3-1 in women's team final.

Chen Yufei propelled China to leading position through her 21-15, 21-12 victory over Yamaguchi Akane, but China's Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan and Huang Dongping/Zheng Yu, and second singles option He Bingjiao all lost their matches to concede the glory.

Hosts Indonesia and Thailand bagged the women's team bronze medals.