Indonesia Comes Back Strongly

Indonesians Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky won the men’s doubles gold medal, beating a Malaysian pair that ignored a fortune teller’s advice to take green bananas onto the court to ward off evil spirits.

The top-seeded Subagja and Mainaky recovered from losing the first game against Yap Kim Hok and Cheah Soon Kit to claim their country’s first gold of the Games, 5-15, 15-13, 15-12.

China’s Ge Fei and Gu Jun won the women’s doubles, 15-5, 15-5, over South Korea’s Gil Young Ah and Jang Hye Ock.

In women’s singles play, Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea earned an 11-9, 11-8 victory over Susanti of Indonesia to reach the finals. Bang will play another Indonesian, 16-year-old Mia Audina. Mia downed South Korea’s Kim Ji-hyun, 11-8, 9-11, 11-1.

Dong Jiong of China and Denmark’s Paul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen advanced to the men’s final. Dong topped Rashid Sidek of Malaysia, 15-6, 18-16, and Hoyer-Larsen beat Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia, 15-11, 15-6.

South Koreans advanced to the mixed doubles final with victories over Chinese teams.

Park Joo-bong and Min Kyung-ra defeated Liu Jianjun and Sun Man of China, 15-10, 15-4, and Moon Dong-Kim and Ah Young-gil eliminated Chen Xingdong and Peng Xingyong, 15-6, 15-8.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

MEDALISTS / Badminton

MEN’S DOUBLES

Gold: Mainaky-Subagja, Indonesia

Silver: Kit-Hock, Malaysia

Bronze: Antonius-Kantono, Indonesia

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WOMEN’S DOUBLES

Gold: Fei-Jun, China

Silver: Young-ah-Hye-ock, S. Korea

Bronze: Tang-Qin, China