Indonesia beat Thailand in thrilling badminton men's final
Thai women make up for men's loss with victory over Malaysia
It was anyone's game.
Thailand head coach, Sompol Kookasemkit had already said before the action got underway at the Singapore Indoor Stadium that his men's team had a "50/50 chance" of clinching badminton gold medal in last night's SEA Games final.
It went all the way to the wire, lasting more than four hours, and in the end, the Indonesians were the ones left standing, after a 3-2 win over the Thais to claim gold.
Indonesia's chef de mission Taufik Hidayat, the country's former world and Olympic champion, was there to congratulate the team.
"This win wasn't 100 per cent guaranteed," he said. "We were actually surprised when we beat Malaysia in the semi-final because they sent their senior players.
"Our singles players here are actually junior players. I am so happy that we have a new, promising generation of shuttlers.
"This is good for Indonesia's badminton future."
Thailand started well, claiming the first point after Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, the newly crowned men's singles champion, beat Indonesia's Christie Jonatan 21-17, 21-19.
The next three contests alternated between the two countries, leaving the score at 2-2 after almost four hours.
In the deciding singles rubber, 17-year-old Indonesian Ihsan Maulana Mustofa lost the first set 22-20 to Thailand's Suppanyu Avihingsanon, who at 25, had much more experience.
If there were some who were worried over how the narrow loss would have affected young Ihsan, they shouldn't have bothered.
Instead, it seemed to galvanise the youngster as he stormed through the next two sets 21-16, 21-9 to send his teammates and the Indonesian supporters wild.
Ihsan also played hero in the deciding rubber against Malaysia in the semi-final on Thursday, and speaking after his latest heroics, the teenager said: "I enjoyed it. I was relaxed when playing. I knew I would win."
Earlier in the day, the Thai women reigned supreme, beating Malaysia 3-0 in the women's team final in a swift and efficient performance.
Their star shuttler, Ratchanok Intanon, the world No. 5, sparked off the rout with a routine 21-13, 21-14 triumph over Malaysia's Lim Yin Fun.
"Our singles players are stronger than Malaysia's," Ratchanok said, later. "So even though the Malaysians played well today, we knew we would be able to win."
Thai doubles pair Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai collected the second point and 19-year-old Busanan Ongbumrungpan then despatched Malaysia's Ho Yen Mei 21-8, 21-15 for the team to claim the gold.
Malaysian head coach, badminton legend Morten Frost Hansen of Denmark, described his team's silver as "wonderful".
"I didn't expect us to be able to get past Indonesia in the semi-final, so I was already very happy that we had made it into the final," he said.
"Thailand have been a strong force in badminton for years, especially their women's team.
"So I'm glad that my players were able to gain experience from playing against them in this match."
Singapore's badminton teams clinched the bronze in both events.
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