Candra/Halim win Copenhagen Masters

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.