Candra, Sigit into semis in Korea

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The veteran men's doubles pairing of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto took their second seeded scalp on Friday to book a place in the semifinals of badminton's Noonnoppi Korea Open.

The 2003 All England champions, unseeded in the tournament after undergoing several partner switches in recent years, beat third seeded Kwok Wa Liu and Albert Susanto Njoto of Hong Kong 15-8, 15-5 in 40 minutes in Incheon City.

On Thursday, the Indonesians had clinched a closely fought match with sixth seeded Koreans Tae Kwon ha and Bang Eun Yim.

Up next on Saturday is the challenge of local favorites Jae Sung Jung and Jae Jin Lee. It will be an opportunity to avenge the loss of fellow Indonesians Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto, who were defeated in straight games by the Koreans in the second round.

In the other half of the draw, China's Zhendong Guo and Zhongbo Xie meet second seeded Danes Jen Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard.

Earlier in the day, the lone remaining Indonesian pair in the mixed doubles, Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir, also made the last four with a 15-6, 15-7 victory over Zhongbo and Yawen Zhang of China.

The fifth seeds face Korean seventh seeds Jae Jin Lee and Hyo Jung Lee, who drubbed their compatriots Yong Dae Lee and Jung Eun Ha 15-3, 15-2. The easy result was surprising as Ha and Lee defeated top seeded Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms in the first round.

In the men's singles, first seed Peter Gade of Denmark fought off Malaysia's Sairul Amar Ayob 15-11, 15-4 to set up a semifinal against local player Park Sung Hwan.

In the women's singles, Pi Hongyan reached the semis by coming back from a game down to beat Eriko Hirose of Japan. The top seed next plays talented Wang Chen of China.