Christie clinches hosts Indonesia’s signature gold
JAKARTA: Every host has a signature event that defines the success of the games, at least in the context of sports.
Jonatan Christie won that event for the 2018 Asian Games hosts with a 21-18, 20-22, 21-15 win over Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen to secure the badminton men’s singles gold medal for Indonesia.
The 21-year-old Christie, nicknamed Jojo, grabbed the national attention with his shirt-shedding celebration following his semi-final win, and intensified it with his pressure-packed victory in the final.
Just like Tan Joe Hok did in 1962 when Indonesia last hosted the games.
Christie peeled off his shirt again to celebrate the gold, and twirled his pointer finger around for emphasis. He saluted when the Indonesian flag was raised above the podium.
“This win is historic for Indonesian badminton,” he said.
Badminton is the national sport in Indonesia, although it hasn’t won the men’s singles title at the Asian Games since Taufik Hidayat won back-to-back golds in 2002 and ‘06. Lin Dan of China won both in between.
The hosts picked up another badminton gold in men’s doubles - it was an all-indonesian final - after top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan beat India’s Olympic and world championship silver medalist and millionaire Pusarla Venkata Sindhu 21-13, 21-16 in 36 minutes for the women’s singles final.
China leads the medal standings with 96 gold and 205 overall, and reclaimed top spot in the track and field table from Bahrain with two days to go. China has nine gold and 20 medals overall at track, to Bahrain’s seven gold and 15 total.
Bahrain capped the night with victory in the first mixed 4x400meter relay, a combination of two men and two women, in 3 minutes, 11.89 seconds. India took silver and Kazakhstan bronze.for China, Li Ling defended her pole vault title with a games record of 4.60 meters, unable to clear an attempt at her own continental record when she missed at 4.71.
Xie Wenjun successfully defended his 110-meter hurdles title, Wang Chunyu beat two-time defending champion Margarita Mukasheva of Kazakhstan to win the women’s 800, and Liu Shiying won the women’s javelin.
The Jiang twins from China created history by winning the duet in artistic swimming, returning to the Games after skipping the 2014 edition to have children.