Danes, Malaysians still a threat to RI domination

JAKARTA (JP): The Danes and Malaysian remain the chief flag bearers of the sparse foreign contenders after Thursday's action at the US$120,000 Sanyo Indonesia Open badminton championships.

Second seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark walked an uneasy path before securing a 15-11, 15-11 second-round win over feisty Nunung Subandoro of Indonesia. Malaysian fourth seed Yong Hock Kin also fought tooth and nail against former Asian champion Rosobin of Indonesia en route to a 15-11, 2-15, 15-5 win in another second-round match lasting an unusually long 60 minutes.

In the women's singles, second seeded Mette Sorensen was troubled in the first set before eliminating local shuttler Yeni Diah 11-7, 11-4.

Malaysia's new men's pair of Lee Wan Wah and Chew Choon Eng were made to struggle before beating the local doubles team of Harmono Yuwono and Halim Haryanto 15-2, 12-15, 15-10. The Danish duo of Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen defeated twin brothers Denny Setiawan and Donny Prasetyo of Indonesia 15-6, 15-7.

The Malaysian pair's victory provided their Danish coach Morten Frost Hansen with particular relief.

"Indonesia is renowned for their best men's doubles players. It's good to see Lee and Chew win because this is their maiden international tournament," the former All England men's singles champion said.

"Our partnership was not very smooth," Lee, 23, conceded. "Our opponents were better. We were leading in the second set but suddenly they fought back."

The Malaysians will meet a stronger Indonesian challenge in second seeds Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian, who crushed compatriots Toto Sunarto and Wisnu 15-4, 15-1.

Flandy and his new partner Eng Hian reached the Danish Open final last week, losing to compatriots and 1996 Olympic champions Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky. The latter shrugged off family feelings on Thursday to beat Karel Mainaky and Nova Widiarto 15- 6, 15-9. Karel is Rexy's younger brother.

Surprises

More surprises marked the tournament as several seeds tumbled out and others came perilously close to making early exits.

Young talent Johan Hadikusuma upset the form books to edge out Thomas Cupper Indra Wijaya 15-8, 15-4. Johan, younger brother of 1992 Olympic gold medalist Alan Budikusuma, has the ideal opportunity to continue his giant-killing run when he meets Hoyer-Larsen in Friday's quarterfinals.

The Dane, at 33 the oldest active badminton player on the men's circuit and the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, said he would not underestimate Johan.

"Johan is a bit more aggressive than Alan. He's going to play fast and will force me out of position. It's going to be a tough match tomorrow."

Former world champion Hariyanto Arbi skirted dangerously close to joining the list of major casualties. The fifth seed had to pull out all the stops in overcoming his junior Ronny Agustinus 10-15, 15-12, 15-11 in an action-packed match.

Hariyanto will have his work cut out for him against Hock Kin in the next round.

Top seed Hendrawan was another favorite forced to fight. He took 60 minutes to outplay fellow Indonesian Irwansyah 15-3, 13- 15, 17-14.

"The match really exhausted me. I kept telling myself to be more patient during the match. I prefer foreign shuttlers than compatriots who must be familiar with my playing style," Hendrawan said.

Hendrawan, winner of the Singapore Open in August, will take on up-and-coming Taufik Hidayat, who conquered his coach Joko Suprianto 15-9, 15-5 on Thursday.

Taufik, the Brunei Open champion, said his only target in the tournament was to improve his world ranking of 27.

Joko, the 1993 world champion, said: "I don't regret my loss to Taufik. His strokes are very good. His defense and offense are great." (yan)