Jakarta: Jonatan Christie, the World No. 15 Indonesian shuttler, ripped his shirt off in celebration of a hard fought Asian Games victory against World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Christie started slow but eventually won the first game 21-18 against Chou. However, Christie went on to lose in the second with 20-22.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, Christie regrouped and proved to be the more composed player in the closing stretch of the match, taking over the decider with a 21-15 triumph over Chou in a 70 minutes battle.
“This is a historic moment for Indonesian badminton,” said Christie.
Christie became the only Indonesian shuttler who has won the Asian Games gold since Indonesian badminton legend Taufik Hidayat clinched a back-to-back gold in 2002 and 2006.
Chou who won a closely fought semi-final match against another local hero Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, had to settle for silver while Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto and Ginting shared the bronze.
In the all Indonesian men’s doubles final, World No. 1 men’s pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo survived a massive scare, coming back from dropping a set to beat teammates and World No. 9 Fajar Alfian Muhammad/Rian Ardianto 13-21, 21-18, 24-22 and won the gold medal.
