Chinese shuttlers shine at Copenhagen Masters

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia failed to retain its title in the men's doubles after Ricky Ahmad Subagja and Antonius lost to the host pair of Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen 15-9, 15-4 in the finals of the 1998 Copenhagen Masters on Tuesday.

China took all of the singles titles after Sun Jun defeated Dane Peter Gade Christensen 15-7, 15-12 in the men's singles final, while Zeng Jaqiong of China beat compatriot Zhang Ning 6- 11, 11-7, 11-2 to win the women's singles title.

In a facsimile, team manager Hadi Nasri praised Eriksen and Larsen as one of the strongest doubles team in Denmark.

"Ricky and Antonius tried their best and fought hard, however, because they were only recently partnered their teamwork was not very good," he said.

Ricky usually partners with Rexy Ronald Mainaky, who skipped the tournament to celebrate Christmas here with his family. The world number one pairing of Ricky and Rexy had just won the gold medal at the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok.

At last year's Copenhagen Masters, the new partnership of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan won the tournament.

This feat was not to be repeated this year. In the first set of the title match, Eriksen and Larsen took a quick 8-2 lead, but the Indonesian team crawled back into the match and drew even at 8-8. From that point on, however, the Danes stifled Ricky and Antonius's offense, taking the set 15-9.

In the second set, Eriksen and Larsen took advantage of the Indonesian duo's weak defense, jumping to a commanding 10-1 advantage. Ricky and Antonius tried to attack their way back into the set, but too many unforced errors led to their 15-4 defeat in only 30 minutes.

"Going through to the finals is a good achievement for a new partnership. They beat some tough teams in the preliminary rounds," Hadi said.

In the women's singles, Mia Audina, who had been expected to take over the role of Indonesia's best shuttler from Susi Susanti, lost to Zhang Ning of China 12-13, 6-11 in her second match.

Earlier on Monday, Mia lost to Mette Sorensen of Denmark. Mia had beaten Sorensen in the Indonesia Open here in early November.

"This is a poor performance from Mia. She lost to lower-ranked players. The Badminton Association of Indonesia needs to evaluate her form to help her train better in the future," Hadi said. (yan)