Photo credit: Badmintonthaitoday.com
It has been known for a long time. Indonesia Masters would be Liliyana Natsir’s last match on international level. The legend has decided to retire after 24 years of badminton.
Indonesia said goodbye to two of their best players this week. First it was Debby Susanto who said thank you and goodbye to international badminton on Tuesday. She and Ronald Alexander lost in straight games to Germans Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich in first round.
Indonesia Masters finals: A day for the history books!
Debby’s farewell has not caught as much attention as it deserved; it is primarily in Indonesia that the medias have focused on this. Social medias do however confirm that Debby and her glorious career have been celebrated properly.
The main focus this week has been on another Indonesian player who we can say, without being disrespectful to Debby Susanto, is a bigger name in badminton. She played longer time, she won more big titles, she simply left a bigger footprint in the world of badminton.
“Owi Butet”
Every time Liliyana Natsir and Tontowi Ahmad went on court this week, everybody knew it could be the last last for Liliyana. She made it public in autumn 2018 that she would retire now and it was decided to make Indonesia Masters they very last tournament for her.
Read our detailed portrait of Liliyana Natsir here
Needless to say this was also the best place to say goodbye: On home ground in front of the fanatic Indonesian badminton spectators, and then of course inside the legendary Istora Senayan arena. And to top things up, “of course” Liliyana and Tontowi reached the final. Things could hardly be any better for this goodbye.
To the unstoppable cheer from the thousands of local spectators who rhythmically shouted “Owi Butet” during the whole match, the Indonesian duo got the best start against the world number one, Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong. Owi and Butet are the nicknames for Tontowi and Liliyana. And they bagged first game 21-19, which basically broke the sound wall inside the arena.
Finishes as runner-up
Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong are not just anyone. The two Chinese are solidly ranked number one in the world and they won no less than nine tournaments in 2018. Against Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir they also had a positive statistic of 3-1 before today’s final.
And the strong Chinese duo stroke back in second game, which they won win the same score as they lost first; 21-19. It was just about not to happen though. The Indonesians were just three points from winning the match as they were leading 18-14 towards the end of second game. Too many errors invited Zheng and Huang back into the match though.
Postponing the stop: One more for Liliyana!
During the decisive game – and the ultimately last game of Liliyana Natsir’s impressive badminton career – the two Indonesians couldn’t keep up with former times’ top level. They were lacking behind the Chinese during the whole game and despite the massive support from the local spectators, it was Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong who ran off with the victory (21-16).
That means that legendary Liliyana Natsir finishes as runner-up in the last tournament of her career. But she will always be a winner in our hearts!
Results from all the finals at Indonesia Masters 2019:
WD: Misaki
Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi, JPN (2) vs. Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong, KOR 21-19
21-15
MS: Anders Antonsen, DEN vs. Kento Momota, JPN (1) 21-16 14-21 21-16
MD: Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, INA (1) vs. Mohammad
Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan, INA (8) 21-17 21-11
WS: Saina Nehwal, IND (8) vs. Carolina Marín, SPA (5) 4-10 retired
XD: Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, CHN (1) vs. Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir, INA
(4) 19-21 21-19 21-16
