Budi fails to claim his first ever title

Jakarta, The Jakarta Post

Indonesian second-stringer Budi Santoso failed to make a major breakthrough in his badminton career at the men's singles final of the US$125,000 All England at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England on Sunday.

Budi, currently world number 51, fell victim to world number two Chinese Chen Hong who had an easy win of 7-4, 7-5, 7-1, as reported by AFP.

The result, however, was a consolation of its kind, as Indonesia did not field its strongest men's singles shuttlers.

World Champion Hendrawan had to pull out of the four-star event due to illness. Taufik Hidayat could not play following the dispute between the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), with its Singaporean colleague SBA over Taufik's move to the island state.

Five other Indonesian shuttlers fell in the earlier stages of the prestigious event.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min of South Korea defeated first-seed of Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager from Denmark to grab the mixed doubles title.

The South Korean pair defeated the Danes with an easy victory of 7-3, 7-3, 7-0 to mark the return of South Korean shuttlers in major badminton Grand Prix tournaments.

Although providing a hard-fought match in the women's singles, Chinese Gong Ruina failed to come from behind, and fell victim to Dane Camilla Martin.

The fifth seed Dane won the title with a 7-5, 8-6, 7-3 victory over the third seed Chinese.

The failure to grab the women's singles had to be a hard blow for the Chinese, as there were three Chinese semifinalists. The two others were Dai Yun and first seed Zhou Mi.

A delighted Martin described the achievement similar to being "alone with the Chinese army."

"It is very special to me," the Dane said. "I knew I had a chance once I got to the final because I have beaten Gong four times before, but I tried not to think about it because I would get too nervous."

Playing later in the day, South Korean Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon won the men's doubles title by defeating former Indonesian national shuttlers Eng Hian and Flandy Limpele, now playing for England, 7-2, 7-2, 1-7, 7-3.

China secured one title in the women's doubles, following an all-Chinese final between first seed Gao Ling and Huang Sui against compatriots second seeds Wei Yili and Zhang Jiewen.