Budi marches to semifinals at All-England
Budi marches to semifinals at All-England
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Indonesia's sole surviving shuttler Budi Santoso will challenge
China's Chen Hong for the men's title in the All England
badminton championships in Birmingham on Sunday.
The unseeded Budi reached the final after defeating fourth
seeding Lin Dan from China in a thrilling five set match Saturday
afternoon.
"It was an incredible performance," Indonesian Team Manager
Christian Hadinata said as quoted by Antara.
"Definitely his best ever."
Christian also praised coach Agus Dwi Santoso who guided the
young unheralded Indonesian to the pinnacle of his performance.
"Coach Agus anticipated Lin Dan's deadly smash and instructed
Budi not to give up easy lobs," he said.
Looking ahead to Sunday's big game, Christian noted that Budi
should immediately focus on regaining his physical stamina since
the match with Lin Dan was extremely draining.
"If he can maintain his physical condition and perform without
any psychological burden like today, he has a good chance of
becoming champion," Christian remarked.
Chen Hong will be favorite in winning the coveted title. He
showed his worth as second-seed by brushing aside in straight
sets fellow countryman Bao Chunlai 8-7, 7-2, 7-5.
The news of Budi's progress was heartwarming for the
Indonesian contingent who did not send the top men's shuttler
Hendrawan due to illness. In fact the Indonesian team did not
even enter a single women's shuttler.
Indonesia also had hopes in the doubles after top seeds Sigit
Budiarto/Candra Wijaya edged out Jeremy Gan/Ng Kean Kok of
Malaysia 7-5, 7-3, 7-4, to reach the semis. Sigit and Candra are
still playing Ha Tae-Kwon/Kim Dong-Moon for a final ticket as of
press time.
The other semifinalists are Chinese Cheng Rui/Wang Wei and
Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian, the former Indonesian pair now playing
for England.
Earlier on the day, Denmark's Camilla Martin kept the European
flag flying with a gutsy 7-5 1-7 7-4 7-2 quarter-final victory
over Chinese number two seed Zhang Ning.
Martin, world champion in 1999 but seeded only five here, had
too much guile for her opponent who struggled to find any
fluency.
The Dane is the only European left in both the men's and
women's singles and once again finds herself carrying the banner
against the might of Asia.
Martin, 27, said: "I have to keep going. I've done it before
and it's difficult to be alone against the Chinese army. But they
have respect for me and I have respect for them."
Her opponent in the semifinals is China's Dai Yun, the woman
she beat in the world championship final three years ago. Martin
said: "She's the player I have most respect for."