Happy belated birthday Indonesia!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!

It's supposed to be on 17th August haha.
better late than never :)

Anyway, this year Indonesia received a sweet birthday presents from our badminton athletes.

It's been so long since I last watched a badminton competition (on TV of course). Indonesian badminton track records has been declining over the years, but we still managed to get medals in Olympic and World Championships.

On 11 Aug 2013, my sister and I watched the 2013 BWF World Championships mixed doubles and men's doubles finals on YouTube live. I only learned that Indonesia got into the finals for both categories minutes before I watched the games. But I thought we're going to lose because my sis said that the opponent for mixed doubles was the world #1 pair from China and Indonesia was #3.

We only watched the last game for mixed doubles. And it's quite nice to see that actually Indonesia won the first game (21-13), lost the 2nd with only a few points behind (16-21). And, wow, the last game was really, really tight, keeping us on the edge of our seats throughout the game. Indonesia and China both kept chasing one after another. China finally led the game by 2 points after they reached 2 digits score, but Indonesia was still following close behind and when the score was 18-20, I thought, "This is it, it's been a very nice game, good game Indonesia!". Lucky the players didn't share the same mentality as I was, because they miraculously won the last match, and stole the gold medals from China. Woo hooo!!! The players, Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir, were on their knees and back, shouting victory celebration when they won. It's really amazing.

Indonesian mixed doubles pair: Tontowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir celebrating their win against China 21-13, 16-21, 22-20
Photo: http://www.badzine.net/news/worlds-finals-%E2%80%93-2-for-indonesia-in-photo-finishes/26607/

The next match was men's doubles, Indonesia (then world #6) against Denmark (then world #3). Again, I thought based on rank, Indonesia would have a slight chance to win. I never watched the pair, Hendra Setiawan - Mohammad Ahsan, played before, so I judged based on ranking. But boy, Indonesia really charged through the final games. They ended the first game 21-13 in only around 11 minutes. The second game saw a more heated performance from Denmark, but Indonesia won the final game by 23-21. This was the fastest final game on 2013 BWF World Championship, lasting only 33 minutes. And that Hendra Setiawan was very cool throughout the game, didn't even show stress or break a smile until they won, unlike his parter.

Men's doubles gold medalists: Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan.
Photo: http://www.badzine.net/news/worlds-finals-%E2%80%93-2-for-indonesia-in-photo-finishes/26607/

Though I can't find the picture, Mohammad Ahsan was very happy and emotional during the award ceremony. When Indonesia Raya was played, I can see his eyes teared up as he looked up to the flag of Indonesia.

I always love the medal award ceremony, with the victors standing on podium, facing the national flag and the national anthem of the gold medal receiver ringing throughout the hall. It is a very proud moment as if the players present to the whole world, "Hey, I get the gold, and this is for my country!". And for this case, Indonesian players might have said in their hearts, "Indonesia, I did it, and this is my early birthday present to you!"

Sigh... Watching these players, I thought to myself, what have I done for my country?