Indonesia shuttler Anthony Sinisuka Ginting found Qiao Bin of China (main pix) a tough nut to crack when he allowed the latter to steal the one point in the team’s 3-1 win in the final of the men’s event of the E-Plus Badminton Asia Team Championships final here in Alor Star.
The 21-year-old, who is ranked 9th in the world as compared to Qiao Bin’s 26th, said that he struggled somewhat in the third set and having to play defend cost him the game.
Anthony lost the game, 12-21, 21-11 and 14-21.
“After losing the first set, I managed to read his movements in the second set and I took advantage of it for the win. But in the decider, I couldn’t read his movement as he was constantly switching is footwork,” said Anthony, who was rested in the semi-final with South Korea due to a minor injury.
“I had a minor injury when I played Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai in the quarter-finals.
“I am not too upset about the loss today as probably, I am not at my best. Anyway, we are already 2-0 up and I believe that we should win it.”
Rightly so, as defending champions Indonesia went to win the game 3-1 through the second doubles pair of Rian Agun Saputro-Hendra Setiawan.
Hendra-Rian overcame Chinese pair Han Chengkai-Zhou Haodong 21-14, 21-19.- BY ALVIN OH
