Badminton/Thomas-Uber Cup: Danish stunner S.S. Dhaliwal in Jakarta Send to a friend | Printable Page TWO years ago, Peter Rasmussen nearly gave up playing badminton. But Denmark must be glad he did not do so as he was the hero at the much-daunted Istora Senayan when he led them to a 3-2 shock victory over defending champions Indonesia in the Thomas Cup early this morning. The score between Indonesia and Denmark stood at 2-2 when Rasmussen stepped onto the court to take on Indonesian youngster Simon Santoso. The experienced Rasmussen kept cool to silent the partisan crowd when he beat the Indonesian youngster 15-3, 15-13 to put Denmark into tomorrow’s final against China. The crowd at Istora Senayan was stunned as the Danes celebrated. Rasmussen, who won the 1997 World Championships in Glasgow after defeating Sun Jun of China, was losing his battle against a spate of injuries since his great triumph. Seven years after his greatest moment in the cold winter in Scotland, Rasmussen has done it again for Denmark. Denmark did not get off to the start they wanted as Sony Dwi Kuncoro did not put a foot wrong in his match against All-England losing finalist Peter Gade winning 15-4, 15-8 in 67 minutes. Gade started off confidently but made too many unforced errors and was affected by the deafening noise created by the partisan Indonesian crowd. Sony used his jumping smash to great advantage as he sent Gade scurrying all over the court. Before the Dane knew what hit him, the first game was over in 33 minutes. The second game lasted a minute longer than the first as Gade could not muster up a challenge to trouble the Indon youngster who grew in confidence as the match went on. The crowd in Istora Senayan gave a standing ovation to Sony as he pumped his fist to signal the defeat of the Great Dane. The Danes leveled the score when Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen gave the Indonesian pair of Flandi Limpele-Eng Hian a lesson, winning 15-13, 15-7. When the flamboyant Taufik Hidayat stepped onto the court to face Kenneth Jonassen, the crowd went wild. Taufik did not disappoint in the first game as he rained his trademark smashes to win 15-5. But suddenly the magic was gone as Taufik looked ordinary when Jonassen took control and won the second game 15-13 to force a rubber. After a pep talk from his coach Mulyo Handoyo, Taufik regained his touch and won the decider 15-7. The crowd at Istora Senayan were baying for blood when the doubles pair of Candra Wijaya-Tri Kusharyanto took on reigning All-England champions Jens Erikssen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen. But the Danes had other ideas as they won the first game 15-10. Stung, the Indonesian pair stepped up a gear to win the second 15-2. However, the Danes were not to be denied their moment of glory as they silenced the crowd, winning the rubber 15-4 to set up a grand finale. Rasmussen went on to silence the crowd but credit to them as this time they behaved and accepted defeat.
