THE POLES WIN AN UNPRECEDENTED GOLD IN HONG KONG
The Hong Kong Open, penultimate leg in the 2009 Super Series will hold special and fond memories to a couple of relatively unheralded players from one of badminton minnows - Poland. Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk are not complete strangers to the sport but when it comes to playing at the highest levels, among them the Super Series, they usually make up the numbers.
The depth in Mixed Doubles has remained pretty consistent with China, Korea, Indonesia, Denmark, England and Malaysia dominating. But this weekend at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong, the Polish pair put to rest the fallacy that the mixed event was indeed the prerogative of the powerful nations of the game.
Unseeded in this 11th leg of the 2009 Super Series, Robert and Nadiezda weaved their way through the ranks until they reached the semi-final where against the stronger Fang Chieh Min and Wang Pei Rong of Taipei, they saved three match points to reach their first ever finals in the Super Series.
If the detractor had attributed luck to their amazing journey thus far, then that cynic was to be proved wrong again when the Polish duo took on the two-time World Champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the final and emerged victorious.
From the first serve, the emotional Robert and the attractive Nadiezda had the Indonesian pair in all sorts of trouble. Avoiding rallies, the Poles kept the shuttle fast and low, effectively cutting off the threat from the racquet of Widianto. As the game progressed, the cheers for the underdogs grew louder as the East Europeans won over the capacity crowd with their tenacity, purpose and single-mindedness to succeed.
Though one may argue that the Indonesians were not at their brilliant best on this particular night, one cannot but accept the fact that the Poles had arrived well prepared to negate any advantage their opponents may enjoy.
It took Robert and Nadiezda just 31 minutes to crown themselves with their finest achievements, a Super Series Gold Medal and a decisive victory over one of
the foremost mixed doubles pairs of modern times. The final scores 22-20, 21-16 reflect the excitement of the encounter.
Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei who had skipped the recent European legs due to injury was back to good form against Denmark’s old warrior, Peter Gade. He breezed past his close friend 21-13 in the first game but ran into a resurgent Dane and his own lethargic approach in the second and succumbed 13-21. The third game developed into a chase for points until the younger and stronger Malaysian pulled away to win 21-16.
The Hong Kong Open was to have been an important indicator of his health condition. Obviously he has fully recovered which means he will be at the final leg China Open later this week. His nemesis, the Chinese ace Lin Dan who missed the Hong Kong leg will be the man Chong Wei will be targeting.