Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo
Twenty-year-old Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo was the saviour for Indonesia as they came from the brink of defeat to overcome Chinese Taipei 3-2 in the Uber Cup.
The win ensured the Indonesians qualify as Group C winners ahead of Chinese Taipei, who were let down by nerves with a historic win in their grasp.
Indonesia were staring at defeat, trailing 1-2 in the tie and losing the first game of their second doubles tie.
Rachel Allessya Rose-Febi Setianingrum lost their opening game to Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih Yun and were tied 20-20 in the second. But The Indonesian pair kept their composure to take the match 11-21, 22-20, 21-16 in 66-minutes to pull the Indonesian level at 2-2.
Indonesia had started off well with their top ranked singles star Putri Kusuma Wardani defeating Chiu Pin-Chian 21-17, 21-17. It was Putri’s fifth win over the Taiwanese in six meetings.
But the Taiwanese struck immediately, taking the first doubles match. Thirty-four ranked Amalia Cahaya Patwi-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti were expected to ease past Hsieh Pei Shan-Hung En-Tzu, ranked ten rungs below them.
But, the Taiwanese pair battled past a tight first game to prevail 23-21, 21-13.
Indonesia were also favoured to win the second singles but Ni Kadek Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi, despite a late fightback, succumbed to a 10-21, 29-30 defeat at the hands of Lin Hsiang Ti.
After Rachel-Febi’s hard-earned victory in the second doubles that saw the Indonesians levelling the tie at 2-2; all the pressure was on two untested youngsters Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo for Indonesia and Huang Yu-Hsun for Chinese Taipei.
It was the 22-year-old Yu-hsun, who started off strongly to take the first game. But typical of many Indonesian shuttlers, Ester refused to throw in the towel and whittled down her rivals confidence to take the game 15-21, 21-19, 21-12 in 69-minutes and deliver the tie to the Indonesians.
RESULTS
UBER CUP
GROUP C
Indonesia beat Chinese Taipei 3-2 (Putri Kusuma Wardani bt Chiu Pin-Chian 21-17, 21-17; Amalia Cahaya Patwi-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti lost to Hsieh Pei Shan-Hung En-Tzu 21-23, 13-21; Ni Kadek Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi lost to Lin Hsiang Ti 10-21, 29-30; Rachel Allessya Rose0Febi Setianingrum bt Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih Yun 11-21, 22-20, 21-16; Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo bt Huang Yu-Hsun 15-21, 21-19, 21-12)
Canada beat Australia 4-1 (Michelle Li bt Tiffany Ho 21-6, 7-3 rtd; Rachel Chan bt Faye Huo 21-10, 21-5; Catherine Choi-Crystal Lai lost to Gronya Somerville-Angela Yu 17-21, 12-21; Chloe Hoang bt Jesslyn Carrisia 21-13, 21-8; Eliana Zhang-Wen Yu Zhang bt Faye Ho-Victoria Tjonadi 21-13, 21-18)
GROUP D
Bulgaria beat Spain 3-2 (Kaloyana Nalbantova bt Clara Azurmendi 21-14, 21-15; Gergana Pavlova bt Cristina Teruel 21-16, 21-12; Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva bt Nikol Carulla-Carmen Mariia Jiminez 21-11, 21-7; Elena Popivanova lost to Ines Costero18-21, 12-21; Kaloyana Nalbantova-Gergana Pavlova lost to Paula Lopez-Lucia Rodriguez 12-21 rtd)
