Champs Candra/Sigit through to semifinals

Defending champions Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto booked an easy 15-3, 15-3 win over Cheng Rui and Wang Wei of China in the quarterfinal round of the World Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, on Friday.

Candra/Sigit's march to the men's doubles semifinals ensured that Indonesia still has hopes of a title at the biennial event after Sony Dwi Kuncoro was the last Indonesian singles' contender to exit from the tournament with a 8-15, 5-15 dispatch by Malaysian Wong Choong Han.

Sony followed Taufik Hidayat, Budi Santoso and Marlev Mainaky, who all were forced out of their championship campaigns.

Indonesia still has Jo Novita/Lita Nurlita in the women's field, but the pair have little prospect against top seeds We Yili/Zhao Tingting of China in the quarterfinals. The match was scheduled for late on Friday.

Candra/Sigit are one of the two men's pairs Indonesia has but Alven Yulianto/Luluk Hadiyanto have already been dispatched at the hands of the Malaysian pairing of Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng.

After being awarded a win over Koreans Ha Tae-kwon/Kim Dong- moon following the top seeds' withdrawal due to injury, Alven/Luluk were beaten 9-15, 15-12, 8-15 by Chan/Chew in the third round late on Thursday.

In the women's doubles, in which the Indonesian team has also fielded two pairs, only Jo/Lita are still in the competition after Devi Sukma Wijaya/Lilyana Natsir were stopped in the second round.

Meanwhile, Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati crashed to a 1-15, 7- 15 defeat to Jonas Rasmussen/Rikke Olsen of Denmark on Friday to become the last Indonesian mixed doubles pair to go out.

As for the other pairs, Robby Istanta/Tetty Yunita and Nova Widianto/Vita Marissa were stopped in the second round while Tri Kusharjanto/Emma Ermawati were thwarted in the third round. --Agencies