Indonesia win badminton mixed doubles gold

And it includes her more photogenic side in a number of modelling shots.

Ahmad Tontowi and Liliyana Natsir celebrated Indonesia’s national day with a “gift” of a gold medal to their country after hammering Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in the badminton mixed doubles final on Wednesday.

Tontowi Ahmad (INA) of Indonesia and Liliyana Natsir (INA) of Indonesia celebrate after winning their match against Peng Soon Chan (MAS) of Malaysia and Liu Ying Goh (MAS) of Malaysia.

Goh Liu Ying, Chan Peng Soon settle for second best after failing to overcome strong showing from Indonesian pair in Rio Olympics.

Roared to the title by a small but vociferous band of Indonesia fans at the Riocentro, the world No3 pairing gave their opponents little chance, producing a commanding performance to win 21-14 21-12.

At one point, the Malaysian team were just one point behind the Indonesians at 9-10 but the latter picked up their game and pulled ahead to 11-17.

This was the second time the two pairs faced each other in Rio – Ahmad/Natsir also emerged victorious in their first encounter in the group stage just a couple of days earlier.

Malaysia is also banking on its men’s singles player Lee Chong Wei to deliver a gold medal but he must first clear the semi-finals hurdle when he goes up against China’s Lin Dan in the semi-finals.

The Malaysians who were in captivating form clinched an easy 21-12 win in the first set and it was expected the sixth world ranked pair would strike back in the second set and push the game to the decider.

In the men’s doubles final, V Shem-Wee Kiong will take on Chinese pair Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan at 10.50pm (M’sian time) in Friday’s final.