Candra and Tony grab men's doubles title

JAKARTA (JP): Having originally had the chance of taking three titles at the 2000 Badminton World Grand Prix Final in Brunei Darussalam, in the end Indonesia had to be content with just one, which was won in an all-Indonesian affair on Sunday.

The men's doubles pairing of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan proved themselves one of the strongest teams on earth when they defeated Halim Heryanto and Sigit Budiarto 7-5, 8-6, 7-2 in 30 minutes in the match played at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium here.

Both of the Indonesian pairs arrived in Brunei unseeded, but they edged out top seeds Jim Laugesen and Michael Sogaard and second seeds Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Lars Paske, all from Denmark, on their way to the final.

The victory served as further proof of Indonesia's masterful production of doubles players of commensurate skill. Candra usually teams up with Sigit while Tony is normally paired with Halim.

Indonesia, however, failed to grab more titles in the men's singles and mixed doubles.

Indonesian Open winner Marlev Mainaky crashed to a 4-7, 5-7, 7-2, 6-8 defeat at the hands of Sydney Olympic bronze medalist Xia Xuanxe of China in 49 minutes.

"Xia was playing more patiently while I was in a rush. I could match him when I played slowly in the third game," said Marlev over the phone from Brunei. "I decided to play fast again in the fourth game but I lost my control."

Marlev made too many unforced errors in the first game giving Xia a quick 5-0 lead. It was clear that Marlev was too impatient from his hurried returns and misjudgements.

In the second game, Marlev tried to speed up the pace but he failed to score an equalizer despite the incessant cheering from Indonesian spectators who are working in Brunei.

Marlev changed tactics in the third game, forcing Xia to slow down the pace. But he lost his consistency in the fourth game, particularly during crucial moments, by hitting a series of floating returns.

Earlier in the mixed doubles, Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur lost to the Danish pairing of Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager in a lackluster match.

Tri and Minarti were beaten 7-8, 4-7, 4-7 in just 26 minutes, mainly due to miscommunication between them on the court. Tri was seen to produce too many unforced errors.

"They managed to keep the match slow while we were going for a speedy match which caused us to commit unforced errors. Their strategy worked better than ours," admitted Minarti.

The Indonesians took an early 3-1 lead in the first game aiming their shots mostly at Schjoldager. The pressure, however, did not fluster the Danes thanks to Eriksen's excellent court coverage. The Danes quickly went to 3-3 and 6-6 before sealing the match 8-7 when Tri failed a return near the net.

China dominated the championships by collecting two more titles from two all-Chinese finals matches in the women's singles and doubles events, which all went as expected.

First seed Zhou Mi defeated fourth seed Gong Zhichao 7-5, 5-7, 7-1, 7-0 for the women's singles crown. Meanwhile, top seeds Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei outdueled Jiang Xuelian and Chen Lin 8- 6, 7-3, 3-7, 7-3 in 45 minutes for the women's doubles title. (nvn)