Heryanto Arbi retains Hong Kong Open crown
Heryanto Arbi retains Hong Kong Open crown
HONG KONG (Reuter): World champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia
successfully defended his Hong Kong Open title yesterday when he
came from behind to beat his compatriot and practice partner Alan
Budikusuma 13-18 15-13 15-4.
In the women's singles, top seed and defending champion Bang
Soo-hyun of South Korea prevented an Indonesian double by beating
teenager Mia Audina 5-11 11-4 11-5 in a high quality final.
The match between top seed Hariyanto and Olympic champion
Alan, seeded second, was predictably close with both players
knowing each other's game intimately.
Heryanto, wearing heavy strapping on his right thigh which he
injured three months ago, lost concentration after a disputed
line call when leading 13-10 in the first game but forced his way
back into the match with some aggressive attacking play.
"There were Indonesian fans in the crowd screaming at every
point and it put me off at the start because I am not used to
that outside the country," said 22-year-old Heryanto, who
cemented his number world ranking with his fifth title of the
year.
"There was a bad line call near the end of the first game and
that also affected my concentration. I played well to come back
in the next two games and I'm pleased to have won here as this is
my first tournament for three months because of injury."
Indonesia's Mia dominated the first game against titleholder
Bang with fluent play but she started to rush her shots in the
second game and the more experienced South Korean took advantage
of a series of slack shots to lift her third crown this year.
"Audina started to make mistakes in the second game and that
helped me win," said Bang.
South Korea's Park Joo-bong, a doubles specialist with few
equals, completed a remarkable comeback to top level competition
with victory in the mixed doubles with Shim Eun-jung.
Park, the Olympic men's doubles champion, has been off the
circuit for two years and was forced to qualify for the mixed
doubles here. He showed his class throughout the event and in the
final was the mainstay as he and Shim carved out a 15-6 2-15
17-14 victory over the unseeded Chinese duo of Sun Mun and Liu Jianjun.
"I am happy to have made a winning comeback - my aim is to win
a place in next year's Olympics in Atlanta and this was the best
possible start," said the 31-year-old Park.
Results (prefix denotes seeding)
Men's singles: 1-Heryanto Arbi (Ina) beat 2-Allan Budi Kusuma (Ina)
13-18 15-13 15-4
Women's singles: 1-Bang Soo-hyun (Kor) beat 5-Mia Audina (Ina) 5-11
11-4 11-5