All-England tourney no sweat for Hariyanto

All-England tourney no sweat for Hariyanto

BIRMINGHAM, England (Agencies): Title holder Hariyanto Arbi
sailed through his first match 15-3, 15-7 against a former
champion as he began the defense of his All-England badminton
crown yesterday.

But Indonesian compatriot and world champion Joko Suprianto
met stiff resistance from Danish lefthander Peter Espersen before
pulling out a 17-14, 15-7 victory after trailing 7-1 and 10-3 in
the first game.

Hariyanto was up against 1988 champion Ib Frederiksen of
Denmark as he began his bid to become the first player to win
three singles titles in succession since illustrious compatriot
Rudy Hartono more than 20 years ago.

Rudy won his seventh straight championship in 1974 before
adding an eighth two years later.

"I have prepared hard to win my third. It is very important
for me to do it," the 23-year-old Hariyanto said.

His greater speed was the decisive factor against the 32-
year-old Frederiksen, out of the game for three years before
starting a comeback last year.

"I need to get used to the speed again," the Dane said. "I was
a little faster in 1988 than I am now, but he is faster than
anyone I played then."

Frederiksen led 3-1 in the opening game then did not win
another point. The Dane kept pace early in the second and led 5-4
then Haryanto took over again.

"He had good strokes. But maybe he was a little slow,"
Hariyanto said.

Joko, beaten finalist in 1993 but winner of the world title
that year, began slowly against the tactical Espersen.

But from 10-3 down, Joko clawed his way back to 14-12, and
when Espersen failed on his only set point, Joko pounced to sweep
five in a row for the second set. The second was mercifully
quick.

"He is very fast, but I had trouble with my serving. Then he
started serving deep and became too strong for me," Espersen
said.

One of the eight ninth seeds, South Korean Kim Hak-kyun, was
the first seed eliminated, losing 15-11, 17-15 to Henrik Sorensen
of Denmark.

Indonesia suffered its early major upset on Tuesday when its
number one women's doubles team of Lili Tampi and Finarsih,
second seeds here, crashed to Lisbet Stuer-Lauridsen and Marlene
Thomsen of Denmark in a tight three-setter in their second round
match.

The Indonesians, taking the second set for a tie, squandered
their commanding 10-5 lead in the deciding set with numerous
floating lobs before going down 6-15, 15-11, 11-15.

Result

Men's singles results, first round (prefix number denotes
seeding):
1-Hariyanto Arbi (Ina) bt Ib Frederiksen (Den) 15-3, 15-7
Thomas Wapp (Swi) bt Anthony Bush (Gbr) 12-15, 15-6, 15-2
9-Hendrawan (Ina) bt Takaaki Hayashi (Jpn) 15-5, 15-9
5-Hermawan Susanto (Ina) bt Robert Nock (Gbr) 15-9, 15-6
9-Rashid Sidek (Mal) bt Peter Bush (Gbr) 15-7, 15-6
Jens Olsson (Swe) bt Vladislav Tichomirov (Rus) 15-10, 15-5
Yong Hock Kin (Mal) bt Tadashi Ohtsuka (Jpn) 15-10, 15-7
Andrei Antropov (Rus) bt Ge Cheng (Chi) 15-11, 5-15, 15-11
3-Joko Suprianto (Ina) bt Peter Espersen (Den) 17-14, 15-7
Park Sung-woo (Kor) bt Fumihiko Machida (Jpn) 4-15, 15-6, 15-4
Imay Hendra (Swi) bt Steffan Pandya (Gbr) 15-12,15-11
9-Fung Permadi (Tpe) bt Rikard Magnusson (Swe) 15-11, 18-17
Pedro Vanneste (Bel) bt Shinnji Bitoh (Jpn) 15-7, 15-12
Henrik Sorensen (Den) 9-Kim Hak-kyun (Kor) 15-11, 17-15
Lo Ah Heng (Mal) bt Tomokazu Umaki (Jap) 15-4 15-2
9-Marleve Mainaky (Ina) bt Peter Kreulitsch (Aus) 15-7 15-9
Anders Nielsen (Eng) bt 5-Dong Jiong (Chi) 15-10 15-8
Peter Rasmussen (Den) bt Henrik Bengtsson (Swe) 15-12 15-4
Peter Janum (Den) bt Detlef Poste (Ger) 15-11 10-15 15-9
Bruce Flockhart (Sco) bt Pang Chen (Mal) 18-14 17-16
9-Lee Kwang-jin (Kor) bt Foo Kok Keong (Mal) 18-15 15-3
Tomas Johansson (Swe) bt Claus Simonsen (Den) 11-15 17-15 15-5

Women's singles, first round:
Mette Sorensen (Den) bt Monique Hoogland (Net) 11-6 11-8
Irina Yakusheva (Rus) bt Emma Chaffin (Eng) 11-3 11-7
Margit Borg (Den) bt Marina Yakusheva (Rus) 12-10 12-9