Awesome: Indonesia's Ester Nurumi, left is congratulated by teammate Gregoria Mariska Tunjung after defeating Thailand's Supandia Katethong in a quarter-final match of the Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu. (AP Photo)
CHENGDU: A courageous performance by Ester Nurumi capped off a brilliant day by Indonesia as they assured themselves of a first Uber Cup medal in 14 years.
The 19-year-old showed great temperament in the third match of the quarterfinal against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong, staying tenaciously in the game despite struggling physically through most of the third game.
Her refusal to give in when the tide was turning against her finally broke Supanida’s challenge, with the world No.38 edging her higher-ranked opponent in perhaps the match of the tournament so far: 19-21, 21-19, 21-19.
Ester frequently doubled over in exhaustion and appeared unable to move between points, but she willed herself on, helped by the sight of her teammates rooting for her.
"I was leading in the third game but I was so exhausted and I couldn’t move at all. I just tried to reset my mind and I saw my friends cheering for me and that gave me some energy and I told myself to keep pushing," said the world No.38.
"Of course I’m happy because with this result Indonesia entered the semifinals. My opponent was very strong and it was difficult for me. I lost my group match to Japan and I learnt a lot from that defeat, so today I could control myself a lot better."
It was a perfect session for Indonesia, with Gregoria Mariska creating the opening with her first-ever win over Ratchanok Intanon.
Gregoria, who’d never beaten Ratchanok in eight previous encounters, finally achieved the breakthrough with a 22-20, 21-18 result.
Thailand never recovered from that opening setback, and Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai’s challenge fell apart in the second game against Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, who won 21-17, 21-14.
In the other quarterfinals, South Korea were comfortable winners over Taiwan, winning all their matches without dropping a game. - Badminton World Federation.
