Luluk/Alven into All-England last 8, Mia silences Gong

Luluk/Alven into All-England last 8, Mia silences Gong

Agencies, Birmingham, England

With some of badminton's top names packing their bags and
heading home unexpectedly early, Indonesia's men's doubles and
mixed doubles pairs kept the red-and-white flag flying at the
All-England championships on Thursday.

Second seeded Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto were forced
into a tiebreak in the first game against compatriots and 2003
All-England champions Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto but romped
home in the second 17-14, 15-2.

In the second round, Candra had been in the unusual position
of facing Tony Gunawan -- his partner when he won the 2001 title.
Tony, part of the exodus of Indonesian players to play for other
countries around the world, represents the U.S. with Howard Bach.

Luluk and Alven, who next play sixth seeded Danes Carsten
Mogensen and Mathias Boe, were joined in the quarterfinals by
fellow Indonesians Eng Hian and Flandy Limpele. The fifth seeds
face third seeded Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng -- who edged England's
Robert Blair and Nathan Robertson 15-12 in a 70-minute tussle on
Thursday -- in Friday's last eight.

Top seeded title holders Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard
Hansen also reached the quarters.

In mixed doubles, the young Indonesian pairing of Anggun
Nugroho and Yunita Tetty upset the eight seeded Dane Rikke Olsen
and Carsten Mogensen 15-3, 15-7 to meet second seeds Nathan
Robertson and Gail Emms, who were kept on court for more than 80
minutes by South Korea's Lee Jae-Jin/Lee Hyo-Jung.

Also through are the fifth seeded Indonesians Nova Widianto
and Lilyana Natsir, who will be evenly matched against China's
sixth seeds Zhang Jun and Gao Ling. Their path has been cleared
with the dismissal of top seeded Jens Eriksen/Mette Schjoldager
from their half of the draw by compatriots Thomas Laybourn and
Rhytter Juhl.

The good fortune was not shared by women's singles player
Maria Kristin Yulianti, who lost in the second round to Japan's
Erika Hirose, and the women's doubles pairing of Jo Novita and
Lita Nurlita, who went down 15-7, 9-15, 5-10 to Jiang Yanmei and
Li Yujia of Singapore.

Private TV station TV 7 will broadcast the semifinals on
Saturday and finals on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on both days.

The opening days of play this week featured some notable
upsets, including defending women's champion Gong Ruina, 2003
champion Zhou Mi and Pi Hongyan, the Chinese-born second seed
from France, on Thursday.

On Wednesday Xia Xuanze, who had won the men's world title in
this same arena in 2003, was among five seeds beaten.

Thursday's biggest upset in the men's draw was Peter Gade. The
1999 All-England champion missed a match point and was beaten in
an astonishing third round match lasting almost two hours against
Muhammad Roslin Hashim.

The elder of the two Malaysian brothers was on the brink at a
game down and 13-14 down in the second when he averted danger
with a superb smash. Then he grew in confidence after he took the
match to a decider.

"I am very disappointed because I have been in great form,"
said Gade.

"I don't know why, but after the first (game) I got very tired
in my legs. It's a matter of balance -- practicing hard toward
the big tournaments and maybe I have not had enough rest."

Pi Hongyang played poorly in her 11-6 11-7 loss to Japan's
improving Kaori Mori.

Zhou looked nothing like the player who won the title here two
years ago and her discomfort was increased by the fact that her
11-6 11-4 defeat came at the hands of another former Chinese
national squad member, Xu Huaiwen, now a German.

Xu was regarded as too small to make it against the bigger,
stronger Chinese girls, but now that characteristic proved an
asset, as she buzzed around the court and made Zhou look leaden.

Gong was often left trailing by the unorthodox strokes of Mia
Audina as she lost 11-7 11-5.

The Indonesian-raised Netherlands player also beat Gong in the
semifinals of the Olympics seven months ago.

"Before I finish my career I would like to be All-England
champion," said Mia. "I'll keep trying and hopefully it will be
this year."