Hermawan off to shaky start

JAKARTA (JP): Senior shuttler Hermawan Susanto and his junior Jeffer Rosobin both crashed to defeat in their respective group matches at the Asia Cup badminton championships in Seoul on Wednesday.

Hermawan fell to Luo Yigang of China 14-17, 7-15, and national champion Jeffer succumbed to Malaysia's number one Rashid Sidek. The surprise of the day, however, was another defeats. It was the 15-6, 15-8 tumble of top seed and home favorite Park Sung-woo at the hands of little known Chinese Xie Yang.

Indonesian Lidya Djaelawidjaja beat Hizako Mizui of Japan 11- 2, 11-6 in the women's singles. In the men's doubles, Indonesian pair of Ade Sutrisna and Chandra Wijaya beat Liu Yong and Zhang Wei of China 15-5, 14-17, 15-8. Another Indonesian partnership Tony Gunawan and Rudy Wijaya claimed their first win, 15-4, 14- 17, 15-12, over Siripong Siripol and Khunakorn Sudhisodhi of Thailand. (arf)