Team Indonesia's Performance

The aftermath of the WC has just started. We have seen how Malaysia's NSC was terribly disappointed with Team Malaysia's dismal performance and the strong words by the deputy director general (Datuk Zolkpiles Embong) in that he vowed to make BAM accountable for the RM 400,000++ expenses on this WC alone!

Compare this to the rather muted response by KONI or PBSI. Make no mistake, the performance of the majority of the players were DISMAL! I was especially disappointed with Taufik, Nova/Butet and Luluk/Alvent. Taufik lost because he didn't even try to win! He congratulated Chen Hong for giving such a good performance and admitted that Chen was stronger in every aspects of the game on that day. "His defense was very good and he was aggressive at net-play", praised Taufik.

Quotes (highlighted) from Bolanews:

“Lawan memang lebih baik. Bola-bolanya hidup. Dalam segala hal, Chen Hong harus diakui tampil lebih bagus dibanding saya,” sebut pemain asal Pangalengan berusia 25 tahun yang dalam setiap kesempatan tampil selalu menjadi pusat perhatian penonton itu. “Itulah permainan. Ada kalah ada menang. Pertahanan dia sangat kuat dan lebih berani main net,” puji Taufik.

Meanwhile, Nova/Butet lost surprisingly to Koo/Wong in a match which ended in deuce. Nova claimed on Bolanews that he did not have sparring partners (only have Richard Mainaky to practice strokes) and did not have enough time (only 20 mins) to familiarize himself with the venue! Unlike the Malaysian pairs who did have 2-3 other XD pairs. Richard also said that it's hard to kill one bird with the only one shot at hand! The most outrageous thing is that Nova and Taufik even watched the match between Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu. Can anybody check when was that match played?

From Bolanews:
"Kalah ya kalah. Nanti dikira kami banyak alasan. Yang pasti, saya dan Butet tidak bisa main dengan enak. Saya tidak grogi atau nervous karena tampil sebagai juara bertahan, namun adaptasi dengan lapangan juga payah,” sebut Nova.
Buruknya adaptasi lapangan di stadion berkapasitas maksimal 17 ribu penonton itu menurut pemain kelahiran Klaten, Jateng, 10 November 1977 itu karena dirinya hanya sekali berlatih di situ. Itu pun tak lebih dari 20 menit. Hal itu diperburuk dengan tidak ada orang lain kecuali hanya Richard yang membantu latihan stroke.
Ini berbeda dengan Malaysia, misalnya. Selain Koo/Wong, mereka juga masih membawa pasangan lain, Mohd. Tazari Mohd. Fairuzizuan/Ooi Sook Ai dan Gan Teik Chai/Fong Chew Yen, yang juga ikut bertanding. Jadi, mereka bisa berlatih bersama."Ibaratnya dengan satu peluru ingin hasil buruan yang maksimal, tentu sulit,” sebut Richard.
Kegagalan Taufik dan Nova membuat sebutan kamar 4052 menjadi kuburan sangat pas. Maklum, dua juara dunia milik Indonesia yang tinggal sekamar itu kalah di babak yang sama dan terjadi pada hari yang sama pula. Keunikan itu ditambah keduanya juga penggemar sepakbola dan sempat menonton Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad pada Liga Primera Spanyol di Stadion Santiago Bernabeu.

As for Luluk/Alvent...enough said....lack of confidence and they could not match the speed of the eventual World Champion, Cai/Fu! Luluk lamented on Bolanews that they lost without even being able to play a proper match and the fact that they did not try their best!


From Bolanews:
Prestasi terbaik hanya diukir sektor ganda putra. Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto dan Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan lolos ke perempatfinal. Luluk/Alven tak mampu menandingi kecepatan Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (Cina) dan kalah 13-21, 10-21 dalam 25 menit, Jumat (22/9). “Saya geregetan kenapa kami kalah tanpa bisa bermain. Kalah tidak masalah sepanjang saya sudah mengerahkan kemampuan. Ini tidak,” keluh Luluk, pemain kelahiran Blora, 8 Juni 1979.

Kido/Hendra and Jo/Gresya are given pass marks.Jo/Gresya fufilled their seeding and they lost to the eventual winner...so...there's nothing I can say about that! As for Kido/Hendra, they did beat Choong/Lee (which was a good result in itself). However, they surprisingly lost to Clark/Blair because of their inexperience in handling situations which were deemed unfair to them! The incident at the beginning of the match affected their concentration as I suspect they would be. Kido even nearly got red-carded because he did not accept the fact that the referee sided with Clark/Blair when they wanted a slower-speed shuttle. Kido later complained that there were also 2 questionable calls during a crucial stage of the match (probably when the score was at 17-17 in the rubber set). So, it's all come down to experience and it's a good lesson for Kido/Hendra because the referee accepted the English's pair request for a slower-speed shuttle, claimed Herry IP (the coach).

Sony and Nana were satisfactory because they lost to superior opponents.

From Bolanews:
Sementara itu, Kido/Hendra harus tersisih setelah melewati proses negosiasi dan argumentasi yang panjang menjelang bertanding. Akibat dianggap memperlambat permainan, Kido nyaris dihadiahi kartu merah oleh umpire. Itu terjadi karena kok yang lajunya dianggap terlalu cepat itu diminta Anthony Clark/Robert Blair agar dipetik bulunya.
Kubu Indonesia keberatan. Pertandingan pun terhenti sekitar 5 menit. Namun, setelah melalui negosiasi yang alot, referee tetap mengakomodasi keinginan pasangan Inggris. Shutlecock tetap dipetik.
"Saya jadi bingung sendiri. Mana ada kejuaraan dunia koknya dipetik? Memang ini pertandingan kelas RT? Saya tidak bisa main,” keluh Kido.
Dampaknya Kido/Hendra tidak bisa main tenang. Konsentrasi jadi buyar. Itu ditambah dengan keputusan hakim garis yang dinilai dua kali membuat keputusan keliru pada poin kritis. Mereka kalah 21-15, 16-21, 17-21. “Ini jadi tambahan pelajaran bagi Kido/Hendra. Meskipun protes agar kok tidak dipetik, yang memutuskan pertandingan tetap referee,” kata pelatih Hery I.P.