Asia Team Championships: Japan wins men's trophy

Hyderabad: Indonesia and China were crowned the men’s and women’s championships respectively at the Badminton Asia Team Championships, which concluded at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium here on Sunday evening.

China’s women scripted a remarkable come-from-behind 3-2 victory against Japan while Indonesia came out on top of Japan – winning 3-2 — in a tie where fortunes swung wildly from one side of the court to another.

Indonesia lost the first match, won the next, surrendered the third before equalising in the fourth match. Christie Jonatan then clinched a nail-biting final encounter against Kenta Nishimoto 14-21, 21-19, 21-13 as Japan were denied for the second time on Sunday.

China may not capture imagination as they once did, but the women on Sunday showed everyone why they’re still a force to reckon with when they were crowned the champions of Asia.

It might have been easier to throw down the towel after losing the first two matches, but Sun Yu put on a remarkable display of badminton, defeating Sayaka Sato 22-20, 21-19. And with this win, she also lit the flames of revival in Chinese hearts. Yu Luo and Yuanting Tang then equalised when they defeated Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao 21-11, 21-10 in the second doubles match.

Bingjiao He then sealed a brilliant victory for China after she defeated Yui Hashimoto 21-18, 21-12 in the final match.

Earlier in the tie, Nozomi Okuhara bounced back from a game down to defeat Shixian Wang 17-21, 21-16, 21-15 in the opening match. Buoyed by the win, the doubles duo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi thrashed Ying You and Qing Tian in straight games 21-12, 21-19.

From there, of course, it all went downhill for Japan. Perhaps Sato was suffering from nerves, or perhaps it was overconfidence. Either way, she was very erratic on the court. She tried too hard to force the pace of the match and consequently, was extremely error-prone. It also enabled Sun Yu to control the flow of the proceedings, and to script a Chinese comeback.

The results

Women’s final: China bt Japan 3-2 (Shixian Wang lost to Nozomi Okuhara 21-17, 16-21, 15-21; Ying Luo/ Qing Tian lost to Misaki Matsutomo/ Ayaka Takahashi 12-21, 16-21; Yu Sun bt Sayaka Sato 22-20, 21-19; Yu Luo/ Yuangting Tang bt Naoko Fukuman/ Kurumi Yonao 21-11, 21-10; Bingjiao He bt Yui Hashimoto 21-18, 21-12).
 
Men’s final: Indonesia bt Japan 3-2 (Ihsan Maulana Mustofa lost to Kento Momota 17-21, 7-21; Angga Pratama/ Ricky Karanda Suwardi bt Hiroyuki Endo/ Kenichi Hayakawa 22-20, 14-21, 21-17; Ginting Anthony bt Sho Sasaki 21-7, 21-16; Berry Angriawan/ Ryan Agung Saputra 16-21, 15-21; Christie Jonatan bt Kenta Nishimoto 14-21, 21-19, 21-13).