Maria Kristin Yulianti
Maria Kristin Yulianti is an Indonesian badminton player. She is a bronze medalist in women's singles at the 2008 Olympics.
Career
2004
Yulianti played in some satellite competitions and won the Malaysian tournament.2005
Yulianti played in more satellite tournaments and won three: the Surabaya, Jakarta, and the Cheers Asian satellite tournaments.2006
Yulianti started to play tougher competitions but still played in satellite tournaments. She played in the Bitburger Open and achieved runner-up, beaten by Xu Huaiwen of Germany in the final, but she scored an upset by beating the seeded player Pi Hongyan of France in the quarterfinal. She played in the Singapore Satellite tournament and claimed the title. She became the most successful player on the national team.2007
This year, Yulianti was the dominant player on her team. She played in the [2007 BWF 2007 BWF World Championships β Women's singles|World Championships β Women's singles|World Championships] as the 15th seed, her highest rank in 2007. She was beaten in the third round by the world number one, Zhang Ning of China. She reached her first quarterfinal of the Super Series tournament in [2007 2007 Indonesia Super Series|Indonesia Super Series|Indonesia], by beating Lu Lan of China in a rubber set. She was stopped by Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria in straight sets. In December, she won the SEA Games in Thailand over fellow countrywoman Adriyanti Firdasari.2008
She competed in a few Super Series tournaments such as All England and the Swiss Open but was stopped in the first round in each. She entered the Uber Cup team and won against the second-seeded country, Japan, by a score of 4β1. While she was defeated by the Japanese, Eriko Hirose, 21β9, 20β22, 20β22, her teammates secured the team victory against the other Japanese players. They reached the final for the first time in 14 years by beating Hong Kong in the quarterfinal and Germany in the semifinal. They were defeated in the final by China, 0β3.Yulianti competed in the Indonesia Open. She beat her compatriot, Pia Zebadiah Bernadet and Yao Jie of Netherlands in the first two rounds. She followed this by defeating the 7th seed, Zhou Mi of Hong Kong in three sets, 21β17, 15β21, 21β16. She accomplished a big upset by beating the Chinese senior player and second seed, Zhang Ning, in a very tight match, 21β14, 20β22, 22β20 and reached her first Super Series final. There she was beaten by the 1st seed, Zhu Lin, after fighting for more than an hour in three sets, 18β21, 21β17, 14β21.
Yulianti's biggest achievement in the sport, thus far, is earning the women's singles bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics as an unseeded player. She is only the third Indonesian woman, and the fifth woman not representing China, to be awarded a medal in women's singles since badminton entered the Games in 1992. In the round of 64, she saved a match point against Juliane Schenk of Germany and won the game in the rubber set, 18β21, 21β13, 22β20. She followed this by defeating Yoana MartΓnez of Spain in straight sets. She started to get noticed after she defeated the All England champion, Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, in three sets, 18β21, 21β19, 21β14. She reached the semifinal by beating Saina Nehwal of India after she saved 8 game points and won 26β28, 21β14, 21β15. She lost to eventual gold medalist Zhang Ning in the semifinal, 15β21, 15β21. However, Yulianti defeated the 3rd seed, Lu Lan, in the playoff for the bronze medal, 11β21, 21β13, 21β15.
After the Olympics, she competed in some Super Series tournaments, although she was always defeated by Lu Lan in three sets. Notable matches include her victory over the 6th-seeded Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia in the Japan Open, 18β21, 21β13, 21β6, as well as her defeat of Zhu Lin, the 5th seed, 21β15, 21β14, in the French Open.
2009
This year might be her worst time in her career. She got injured from December last year, and played her first Super Series tournament in June. Before that time, she was followed Malaysia, but failed to enter the next round, after beaten by Zhang Beiwen in the first round. Then, she was represented Indonesia in Sudirman Cup by only winning her first match against Sayaka Sato.Achievements
Olympic Games
Women's singles| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Ref | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, Beijing, China |  SEA GamesWomen's singles
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