Danes, Malaysians still a threat to RI domination
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)