Candra, Halim go down in finals
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Candra Wijaya and Halim Haryanto flopped in the finals as the 19- member Indonesian badminton team will arrive home without any gold from the Denmark Open.
After taking the scalp of world champions Laars Paske and Jonas Rasmussen en route to the finals, Candra/Halim were beaten by the Korean pairing of Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon on Sunday.
The Indonesians mounted a remarkable surge in the opening set when, trailing 7-13, they upped their play to fight back and win 17-16. The scores of the match could be followed live on www.worldbadminton.com.
But in the remaining games, they were easily beaten, 6-15, 8- 15.
It was the first meeting between the two pairs. Though, Candra, who teamed up with Sigit Budiarto, had met the Koreans five times with the Indonesian losing three.
Candra and Sigit parted ways after the world championships, where they were defeated by Paaske/Rasmussen. Sigit now has a new partner Tri Kusharyanto. They fell in the third round, however.
Despite the defeat, the finals showing proved to be good progress for Candra/Halim as it was only their third tournament together after exiting in the third round in the Malaysia Open and making the semifinals in the Indonesia Open.
The Denmark Open concluded on Sunday with China again emerging as the big winners by taking three of the five titles on offer.
To the alarm of any of its rivals, those three titles were fought out in all-Chinese finals.
South Korea took two victories, both coming courtesy of Kim Dong-moon. With his female partner Ra Kyung-min, he helped the team grab the mixed doubles with a 17-16, 15-10 victory over compatriots Kim Yong-hyun/Lee Hyo-jung.
2003 Denmark Open finals Men's singles: Lin Dan (Chn) bt Chen Yu (Chn) 15-4, 15-6 Women's singles: Gong Ruina (Chn) bt Zhou Mi (Chn) 4-11, 13-10, 11-3 Men's doubles: Ha Tae-kwon/Kim Dong-moon (Kor) bt Candra Wijaya/Halim Haryanto (Ina) 16-17, 15-6, 15-8 Women's doubles: Zhang Dan/Zhang Yawen (Chn) vs Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen (Chn) ...(TO BE UPDATED) Mixed doubles: Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min (Kor) bt Kim Yong- hyun/Lee Hyo-jung (Kor) 17-16, 15-10