RI's Women's Pair Advances to Semifinals

Incheon, S Korea (Antara) - The Indonesian women's pair of Greysia Polii/Nitya Maheswari advanced to the semifinals of the 2014 Asian Games and assured the country of a medal from badminton, having won the women's doubles event on Thursday. The Indonesian pair secured a place in the semifinals after crushing Japanese duo Reika Kakiiwa/Wiyuki Maeda in a straight set 22-12, 21-17. Unlike in the Olympiad, any player who advances to the semifinals of the Asian Games looks set to bag at least a bronze medal. "We are determined to win a gold medal. Greysia/Nitya's win in the quarterfinals has paved the way for the Indonesian team to achieve it," Indonesian badminton team manager Lius Pongoh said here on Thursday. "The key to our athletes' win is because they played patiently and rarely made own mistakes. In fact, we could not underestimate the Japanese players," he said. Nitya said she played the game freely. "I only tried to play a good game. I didn't think of target," she said. In the semifinals, the Indonesian pairing of Greysia/Nitya will play against Chinese duo Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei. Earlier, in the women's doubles team event on Sept 21, the pair of Greysia/Nitya bowed to Japanese duo Ayaka Takahashi/Misaki Matsutomo in a rubber set 14-21, 21-18, 19-21. (*)