The Indonesian badminton team has struggled in the 2021 Sudirman Cup. But all that effort and effort has not been able to return the Sudirman Cup trophy to the country.
Indonesia has to bite its fingers again in its effort to bring the Sudirman Cup back to the country, after being beaten 2-3 by Malaysia in the quarter-finals in a series of matches on Saturday (2/10) early morning WIB.
Sudirman Cup 2021. Photo: via BracketHQ |
In its history, the Sudirman Cup is actually very closely related to Indonesia. It’s not just a matter of name, respect for Dick Sudirman for his services in the badminton world, the trophy of this event is also full of Indonesian nuances.
The shape of the Sudirman Cup trophy presents a miniature of the Borobudur Temple at the top. While the bottom of the trophy, which was made in Bandung, is also made of native Indonesian teak.
Indonesia also hosted the first Sudirman Cup in 1989, following the successful birth of the international badminton team championship.
However, so far the only success of the Indonesian badminton team in winning the Sudirman Cup was only during the first edition, which was held at Istora Senayan May 24-29 32 years ago.
At that time, Eddy Hartono/Rudy Gunawan in the men’s doubles and Verawaty Fajrin/Yanti Kusmiati in the women’s doubles had to admit the superiority of the South Korean pair in the first two parties in the final round.
Next, Susy Susanti and Eddy Kurniawan managed to equalize the score to 2-2. In the deciding party, Eddy Hartono/Verawaty Fajrin managed to pay cash for their previous defeat by winning in the mixed doubles. Indonesia won the 1989 Sudirman Cup.
Since then, the best achievement of the Indonesian badminton team in the Sudirman Cup was the runner-up six times, namely in 1991, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2005, and 2007. Indonesia has also been a semifinalist seven times.
China is currently the most successful country in the Sudirman Cup with 11 titles, followed by South Korea with four titles. The two countries will now duel each other in the 2021 Sudirman Cup semifinals.
Another 2021 Sudirman Cup semifinal party presents the Malaysia vs Japan party. In its history, Japan has twice been runners-up in the Sudirman Cup (2015 and 2019) while Malaysia will try to reach its first final considering its best achievement before is being a semifinalist in 2009.
The Indonesian badminton team itself is now biting its fingers again because it failed again in an attempt to bring the Sudirman Cup back to the lap of Mother Earth. But the struggle of Greysia/Apriyani cs, of course, still deserves appreciation.
On the other hand, after the 2021 Sudirman Cup results, there should also be evaluations and lessons that can be learned so that they can be even better. This is closely related to another important event that awaits: the Thomas-Uber Cup on 9-17 October 2021.
(krs/mrp)
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