Candra/Halim win Copenhagen Masters
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian pairing of Candra Wijaya and Halim Haryanto rounded off their 2003 badminton tour season with triumph at the Copenhagen Masters.
Candra/Halim beat world champions Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark 15-11, 15-4 on Monday (early Tuesday Jakarta time) in the finals, which saw the hosts' other two finalists also crushed at the hands of their opponents.
In the match, which was aired live by Jakarta's TV-7, Candra/Halim displayed some masterful offensive moves in the first set and then dominated in the second to stop their opponents in 40 minutes and win their first trophy since they were first paired together in August.
Being an unofficial tournament on the International Badminton Federation (IBF) calender, the Copenhagen Masters invited a select group of players to compete in only three of the normally sanctioned five events.
The event provided a total of 320,000 Danish Krone (around US$53,740) in cash prizes, according to www.worlbadminton.net.
Six participants from each category were split into two groups, with group winners qualifying for the finals.
Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia and Xie Xinfang of China took the men's and women's singles titles, respectively.
Wong put his poor run during the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games behind him, by defeating Keneth Jonassen of Denmark 15-7, 15-10 in the men's competition. Indonesia's top singles player, Taufik Hidayat, had already crashed out during the group matches.
Wong emerged the winner of Group 1, which comprised Peter Gade of Denmark and Taufik, while Jonassen won Group 2 over Chen Yu of China and Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.
Xie, who cruised to the finals at the expense of Tine Rasmussen of Denmark and Pi Hong Yan of France in Group 2, toppled defending champion Camilla Martin of Denmark with a 11-3, 11-3 victory.
Martin had beaten Indonesian-born Mia Audina of the Netherlands and Seo Yoon-hee of Korea in Group 1.
The Indonesian men's doubles finally broke through to win a title in their 5-month-old partnership which has seen several close calls. They were close to victory in the Denmark Open in September but lost in the finals.
In the last two tournaments before the Copenhagen Masters, they could only reach the quarterfinals in the Chinese Taipei Open and China Open.
Candra has stood atop the podium in Copenhagen three years in a row and four of the last six years.
His first victory came in 1997 when he was paired with Tony Gunawan. With Sigit Budiarto, the 28-year-old dominated in 2001 and 2002.
In the 2003 edition, Candra/Halim reached the finals after beating Jens Eriksen/Martin Lungaard Hansen of Denmark and Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah of Malaysia in the group matches.
Paaske/Rasmussen booked their finals ticket with wins over Anthony Clark/Nathan Robertson of England and Kim Yong-hyun/Yim Bang-eun of South Korea.