KUALA LUMPUR (14 May 2010) - The second doubles pair of Nova Widianto-Alvent Chandra put Indonesia in their first Thomas Cup final since 2002 when they beat the Japanese pair of Noriyasu Hirata-Hiroyuki Endo 21-14, 22-20.
The overall score before the start of the match was 2-1 to the advantage of Indonesia thanks to victories from Taufik Hidayat in the first singles and Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan in the first doubles.
And while Sho Sasaki pulled one back and gave Japan their first point in the semi-finals this afternoon when he overcame Simon Santoso in the second singles, there was just no way Japan could fight back in the second doubles.
Nova-Alvent won the first set 21-14 in 12 minutes before Noriyasu-Hiroyuki’s attempt of a comeback in the second set was snuffed out with a close 20-22 defeat.
Indonesia booked their place in the final on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Japan in the semi-finals.