Indonesia beats India 3-0 in A King Asia Cup match

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young shuttlers beat India 3-0 on the opening day of the A King Asia Cup Championship 1997's round- robin match at the Senayan Tennis Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Indra Wijaya, world-ranked fourth and finalist of the 1996 Malaysian Open, had to work hard before eliminating India's No. 1 Gopi Chand, finalist of the just-concluded Indian Open, 15-9, 15- 2.

Compatriot Budi Santoso, the 1996 Indonesia Open finalist, had to stretch his muscles before beating Sidharth Jain 15-3, 18-13.

World No. 1 doubles Chandra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto were too strong for India's top doubles Jaseel P. Ismail/Vijaydeep Singh, winning 15-1, 15-2.

Indra had led 10-0 before Chand, who lost to Hariyanto Arbi of Indonesia in the Indian Open final match, began earning points.

Chand was able to come from behind to earn 9-10 before his drive was out, but Indra was able to take two more points and led 12-9.

The score remained 12-9 after both shuttlers failed to earn another point and they had to over the serve eight times.

Indra earned 13-9 but Chand's smash forced another service over. Unfortunately, the Indian failed to take advantage of the opportunity and after four service overs, Indra controlled the ball to end the first set 15-9.

In the second set, Chand seemed very exhausted and lost to Indra 2-15.

"I'm still very tired. We had a long flight and not enough sleep," Chand said after the match.

India's team manager Surinder Pal Singh said the team arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 2 p.m. (Western Indonesian Time) and had to play later in the afternoon.

Delay

The match between Indonesia and India, scheduled for 5 p.m., had to be delayed and was staged after the match between South Korea and Japan.

"The court is good, but I had no chance to practice on it. I hope tomorrow we can play better against Chinese Taipei," said Chand, the 1997 Indian national championships winner.

Singh said the Badminton Association of India had just been told to replace China, which withdrew from the championship due to internal problems last Thursday.

Budi, who played as the second singles, won easily against Jain in the first set. But he had to work hard in the second set.

"It's hard to control his balls because they were very high and I'm already exhausted after attacking him in the first set," he said.

Both Budi and Jain earned point by point and had tied at 7-7. Jain was able to lead 13-8 before Budi evened the score at 13-13.

In the deuce, Budi was able to take control, and closed the set at 18-13.

Coach Indra Gunawan said that Budi played too slow and gave his opponent more chances to attack.

He indicated that he will field Jeffer Rosobin, the 1996 World Cup championship's finalist, for the second singles, but declined to mention the first singles.

"I'm satisfied with today's results. Our doubles are still much stronger than their rivals. We need some evaluation for the singles, and I'll talk to them to decide who will be the first singles tomorrow," he said.

Indonesia is to face Thailand today at 5 p.m. (yan)

Results

Group A:

Indonesia vs India 3-0: Indra Wijaya vs Gopi Chand 15-9, 15-2; Chandra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto vs Jaseel P Ismail/Vijaydeep Singh 15-1, 15-2; Budi Santoso vs Sidharth Jain 15-3, 18-13.

Chinese Taipei vs Thailand 2-1: Fung Permadi vs Natapol Sarawan 15-7, 15-0; Chien Yu Hsun/Huang Shih Chung vs Pramotee Teerawiwatana/Kitipon Kitikul 9-15, 2-15; Chang Jenq Shyuang vs Anupharb Teeraratsakul 15-12, 15-6.

Group B:

South Korea vs Japan 3-0: Park Sung-woo vs Takahiro Suka 15-2, 15-4; Lee Dong-soo/Yoo Young-sun vs Shinji Ohta/Takuya Takehana 15-5, 15-8; Han Dong-sung vs Yuzo Kubota 15-5, 15-7

Malaysia vs Hong Kong 3-0: Ong Ewe Hock vs Tham Kai Chuen 15-6, 5-15, 15-6; Tan Kim Her/Lee Wan Wah vs Ma Chi Kong/Chow Kim Man 15-11, 15-2; Pang Chen vs Liu Kwok Wah 15-2, 15-1