RI suffer narrow Taiwan defeat

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia was forced to bow out to Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) in a tough match Tuesday, despite a strong game marked by energetic blocking and smashes by the likes of spiker Muhamad Riviansyah.

"Indonesia played very well. We didn't think we could play five sets with Chinese Taipei. But we made some mistakes, especially when we were at that critical point," Indonesia's head coach assistant Machfud Irsyada said after the match.

"Maybe this was because our players were not confident enough," he added.

Chinese Taipei, which managed to recover to top form after an earlier 3-1 defeat from favorite China, was dominant in the first set thanks to a combination of skills and good blocking, winning the first set 25-17.

In the second set, Indonesia, which enjoyed strong support from the 1,500-odd crowd at the Bung Karno main stadium, worked against the pressure, managing to steal the second set 25-17.

The third set belonged to the much taller Taiwanese, who won the dramatic set by a nail-biting 33-31.

Unperturbed by the setback, Indonesia fought back to even the score 2-2 by winning the fourth set.

But the comeback was short-lived, with exhausted Indonesian players in the final set making several unforced errors that handed the set to the visiting team 18-16. (02)