Flandi, Eng Hian edge out top seeds

Flandi, Eng Hian edge out top seeds

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's players moved closer to an all-Indonesia final in
the men's doubles at the Korea Open badminton tournament, with
two pairs managing to advance to the semifinals.

Sixth seeds Flandi Limpele and Eng Hian upset host pair and
top seeds Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon 15-12, 15-12 in the
quarterfinals on Friday to book a semifinal place against seventh
seeds Sang Yang and Zhang Bo of China.

Sang and Yang earlier overcame Thai top doubles Pramote
Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas 15-4, 7-15, 15-6.

The other semifinal on Saturday will pit Luluk Hadiyanto and
Alven Yulianto of Indonesia against hosts Yim Bang-eun and Kim
Yong-hyun.

Alven and Luluk defeated fellow Indonesians Sigit Budiarto and
Tri Kusharyanto 15-3, 15-4 while Yim and Kim marched ahead at the
expense of Jim Laugesen and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark 9-15, 17-
14, 15-7.

Luluk and Alven have evened the score from their previous two
meetings with their Korean counterparts. The Koreans won their
match in 2003 All England and the Indonesians triumphed in the
2003 Taiwan Open.

With Luluk and Alven being on a high after their match on
Thursday in which they chalked up their first win over second
seeds Fu Haifeng and Cai of China, Indonesian team coach Hery
Iman Pierngadi was optimistic that his proteges would be able to
fight through their last barrier to set up an all-Indonesian
final.

"I hope Luluk and Alven will not lose their stamina," Hery
said as quoted by Antara.

In the mixed doubles, Indonesian pair Nova Widoanto and Vita
Marissa were unable to clinch a first win in their match against
world champions Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min.

Nova and Vita, who were seeded sixth, surrendered 15-10, 15-3
to concede the fifth loss in their five encounters.