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Asian Titans Clash in KL Final
Ami Afriatni | May 14, 2010

Taufik Hidayat, pictured in this file photo, is the best badminton player in history, says Japanese Kenichi Tago, who Taufik beat convincingly on Friday as Indonesia marched into the finals of the Thomas Cup for a record 17th time. (AP Photo/Paul White) Taufik Hidayat, pictured in this file photo, is the best badminton player in history, says Japanese Kenichi Tago, who Taufik beat convincingly on Friday as Indonesia marched into the finals of the Thomas Cup for a record 17th time. (AP Photo/Paul White)
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Kuala Lumpur. Indonesia’s Thomas Cup team is one round away from completing a long journey to redemption.

Much maligned for its inconsistent play in recent years, the men’s team rose to the challenge on Friday, beating Japan 3-1 in the semifinals to book a seat in the championship round for the first time since 2002.

The final will be nothing short of intriguing, as the Indonesians take on China, in a repeat of the 2000 final that was also played in the Malaysian capital and which Indonesia won 3-0.

China overwhelmed Malaysia 3-0 in the other semifinal.

Indonesia’s reputation as one of the world’s most dominant national teams has taken a hit in recent years with the shuttlers’ poor performance in international competitions.

This year, the country came up empty-handed in the first four Super Series tournaments and went without a title in the 2010 Asian Championships.

“The win [against Japan], I think, silenced the doubters,” team manager Jacob Rusdianto said. “Now the team is ready to face anyone in the final.”

It has never been this challenging for Indonesian shuttlers, that merely reaching the final was accomplishment enough.

Indonesia has the most overall Thomas Cup titles with 13. It strung together five straight championships from 1994 to 2002.

That is, until China came along, winning the last three men’s team crowns and taking up the mantle as the world’s best.

At Putra Stadium, Taufik Hidayat, the only shuttler in the current roster who played in the 2000 and 2002 Thomas Cup title-winning teams, beat Kenichi Tago 21-9, 21-14 to put Indonesia ahead.

“I didn’t expect to win that easily, because [Tago] is a promising player,” Taufik said. “But I think I’m getting better as the tournament progresses.”

Tago said he was exhausted after playing through a gruelling stretch that included a 3-1 victory over Germany in the quarterfinals and a 3-2 win over Malaysia in the group stage.

“My conditioning wasn’t good and I was a bit nervous too,” Tago said. “Taufik is the best player and he’s been playing well in the tournament.”

Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan made it 2-0, after dispatching Kenichi Hayakawa and Kenta kazuno 21-9, 21-11.

Japan threatened when Sho Sasaki defeated Simon Santoso, 21-19, 13-21, 21-11. Nova Widianto and Alvent Yulianto Chandra clinched Indonesia’s berth in the final with a 21-14, 22-20 victory over Noriyasu Hirata and Hiroyuki Endo.

“To be able to help the team advance, it was a great feeling,” Nova said. “We lost our focus in the second game, but I’m glad we were able to pull it off.”