China sweeps World Junior c'ships title

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian junior badminton team went away empty-handed after their sole survivor in the boys' singles, Sony Dwi Kuncoro, surrendered to Chinese Bao Chunlai 1-7, 5-7, 7-1, 5- 7 at the World Junior Badminton Championships for the Bimantara Cup.

With Bao's victory, China completed a clean sweep to grab the title before the home crowd at Guangzhou, China.

Another event saw Wei Yan beat Wang Rong 3-0 to win the girls' singles title, while girls' duo Zhang Yawen and Wei Yili outclassed Li Yujia and Zhao Tingting 3-1 to win the girl's doubles title.

Duo Sang Yang and Zheng Bo outclassed compatriot Xie Zhongbo and Chao Chen 3-1 in the boy's doubles event. Sang and Zhang won the mixed doubles title after they overcame Zheng and Wei 3-0.

Indonesian team manager Yacob Rusdianto said the overall results had met the target set by the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI).

"All shuttlers have reached PBSI's target, which includes the finalist in the boy's singles event and semifinalists in the boy's doubles and the mixed doubles. Our shuttlers also finished in the top four in the team event," he said.

Reviewing Sony's performance, Yacob said Sony had difficulties in countering Bao, who is a lefthanded player.

"In the first two sets, Sony could not free himself from Bao's pressure and failed to return the shuttlecock to Bao's court. Sony showed a good sign of rebound in the third set. In the last set, Sony managed to lead 4-0 but Bao was able to catch up with him and ended the match 7-5," he said.

In Ipoh, Malaysia, Indonesian Budi Santoso won the 2000 Ipoh Masters title here on Sunday after he outclassed home favorite Roslin Hashim 15-7, 15-5.

Another Malaysian, Wong Choong Hann, had to lose one set before he claimed third place. He beat Pulella Gopichand of India 17-16, 7-15, 15-11.

Malaysian pair Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook took sweet revenge over Indonesian new pair Tony Gunawan and Rexy Mainaky 15-8, 15-9 to claim the men's doubles title. Tony and Rexy crushed Lee and Choong for the Asian badminton championships title in Jakarta last week.

Indonesian Candra Wijaya and Eng Hian won the third place after beating Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen from Denmark 15-11, 15-13. (ivy)