Indonesia and S. Korea set for early meeting
Indonesia and S. Korea set for early meeting
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Agencies): Nail-biting final group matches cost favorite Indonesia an early meeting with title holder South Korea in the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship here on Friday.
Former All-England champion Ardy Wiranata slid into a shock defeat as Indonesia struggled to a 3-2 edge over Denmark for the group 1B top spot.
In group 1A, China, fresh from its steamrolling run in the Asia Cup last month, outclassed South Korea 3-2 after a hard- fought battle lasting five hours and 20 minutes.
Indonesia was scheduled to play South Korea at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Saturday and China vs Denmark was scheduled at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) in the cross-over semifinals.
The final will be shown live by RCTI tonight at 8.30 p.m. Indonesian West Time.
Indonesia's match against South Korea is a repeat of the last three finals, with South Korea winning the last two.
"We cannot deny that this semifinal is an unexpected one," Indonesian badminton maestro Rudy Hartono said. "We did not think that China would be that great."
Indonesia held on to win, but only after a sensation in the first rubber, when a nervy world number two Ardy crashed to a 8- 15, 15-9, 15-5 defeat at the hand of lowly Peter Rasmussen, who ranks just 25 in the world.
"I have no excuse. He played better than I did," Ardy said.
The graceful world and Olympic champion Susi Susanti soon came charging to level the tie by beating Lotte Thomsen 11-1, 11-5.
All England champions Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, top seeded for the individual event, had a possible final rerun against second seeds Jon Holst-Christensen and Michael Sogaard. Subagdja and Mainaky comfortably won 15-10, 15-7.
Helene Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen achieved a level 2-2 for Denmark by winning the women's doubles, before Aryono and Elisa ensured Indonesia's victory by winning the mixed doubles.
Danish team manager Morten Frost said his side's performance showed that the reputedly invincible Indonesians were fallible.
"The difference between the Danish players and the Indonesians was not so great tonight. We have proved the Indonesians can be beaten," Frost said.
Denmark's challenge will be boosted by Thomas Lund, who arrived late on Friday night. Lund is the current All-England mixed doubles champion with partner Marlene Thomsen.
Upset
In group 1A, South Korea's Kim Dong-moon and Gil Young-ah gave a sign of things to come when they upset China's Chen Xingdong and Wang Xiaoyuan 15-9, 15-7 in the mixed doubles.
In a repeat of this year's Swedish Open final, Kim and Gil, world ranked 27 gained their revenge over the world number eight pair.
Asian Games champion Bang Soo-hyun raced to a 10-0 lead against China's world number six Ye Zhaoying and took the first set 11-2.
Ye recovered her composure and rhythm in the second set to reach 11-6. World number two Bang, also an Olympic and world silver medalist, was then outmaneuvered and outgunned by Ye, who won 2-11, 11-6, 11-6.
Asian champion Park Sung-woo just beat Dong Jiong, on his sixth match point, 15-2, 16-18, 17-15, to give South Korea a 2-1 lead.
But China went on to win both the men's and women's doubles to take the tie 3-2.
Earlier in the day, Sweden bounced back into the Sudirman Cup elite after topping group 2.
Sweden thrashed the Netherlands 5-0, following other wins over Japan and Russia in the four-nation pool.
Sweden will compete for the Cup in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1997 with the five other countries in group 1.
England was also scheduled to face Thailand on Saturday in a group one relegation battle. Whoever loses will drop into the void created by Sweden's promotion.