All England Trophy Breaks Indonesia’s Badminton Title Drought

The country’s nine-year wait for an All England Open Badminton Championship title finally ended on Sunday when Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir won the mixed doubles event. 

Tontowi and Liliyana, who have only played together for a year, defeated Danish pair Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 21-17, 21-19 to take the trophy at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

It was Indonesia’s first title in badminton’s oldest tournament since men’s doubles Sigit Budiarto and Candra Wijaya won in 2003.

It was also Indonesia’s first All England mixed doubles title since Christian Hadinata and Imelda Wigoena beat English pair Mike Tredgett and Nora Perry in the 1979 final.

For Liliyana, it was her second All England final. She lost with previous partner Nova Widianto, to China’s Zheng Bo and Gaoling in 2008.

“I always have faith in [Tontowi and Liliyana]. It’s been a long wait, but since the tournament started, I had a feeling that they would break the drought,” said Christian , who is now head coach of the national team.

Christian believes the title is the start of their path to the 2012 Olympic gold medal. Tontowi and Liliyana’s last victory was in the Singapore Open in June.
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