Indonesia clears first hurdle in Sudirman Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia cleared its first hurdle at the Sudirman Cup Group B round-robin match by defeating England 4-1 at the San Pablo Stadium in Seville, Spain, on Tuesday.

But the national team suffered a blow with the injury of world number three men's singles Taufik Hidayat.

In Group A, former champion South Korea blanked underdog Sweden 5-0.

Indonesia went down 1-0 as its women's doubles Deyana Lomban and Indarti Issoliana were forced to bow out 15-8, 10-15, 15-17 to Donna Kellogg and Gail Emms in a tough 95-minute match.

Kellogg, given a yellow-card on Monday for shuttle abuse in a game against Denmark, said, as quoted by Reuters: "Even at 14-11 down in the decider, we just didn't give in. We never believed we would lose that match."

Taufik managed to tie 1-1 after defeating Michael Edge 15-9, 15-8 but sprained his right ankle when leading 9-3 in the first game.

"I managed to force myself to keep on playing but now it really hurts. I can't even walk," Taufik told The Jakarta Post from Seville on Wednesday. "I won't play in today's match against Denmark."

Women's singles Lidya Djaelawidjaja overcame Julia Mann 11-6, 11-8 to lead 2-1. Her victory was followed by Olympic men's doubles champions Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan who overwhelmed Anthony Clark and Nathan Robertson 15-5, 15-8.

Japan Open champions Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur sealed the country's victory after Englishman Simon Archer, who was partnering Gail Emms, had to retire after snapping a tendon in his right knee-cap within the first 10 minutes of play, Reuters reported.

The Olympics bronze medalist will be out of action for nine months and will have to miss next week's World Championships.

Speaking about Indonesia's team performance, head coach Christian Hadinata expressed satisfaction.

"They have shown good form, especially in the men's singles and doubles. Even though Deyana and Indarti lost to the English pair they were in great form throughout the tough match," he told the Post.

"As for Taufik, he showed his class as he managed to deal with the pressure and equal the score. He was put to the test with Edge as the English shuttler was very fast in attacking."

Koreans Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min opened their country's victory on Tuesday by outclassing Frederik Bergstrom and Jenny Karlsson of Sweden 15-8, 15-2. Men's singles rising star Lee Hyun-il sweated out to beat Rasmus Wengberg 15-13, 15-11 followed by Jun Jae-youn in the women's singles who defeated Marina Andrievskaya 11-4, 11-4.

Olympics silver medalists Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung eliminated Sweden's doubles pair Joakim Andersson and Mikael Rosen 15-9, 15-3 and Lee Kyung-won and Ra Kyung-min concluded Korea's victory after beating Johanna Persson and Sara Persson in the women's doubles 15-0, 15-4.

Indonesia has ensured a place in the semifinal, accompanying defending champion China, 1999's runner-up Denmark and South Korea.

New lineup

In Wednesday's match, to take place at 6 p.m. local time (11 p.m. Jakarta Time), Indonesia will field Hendrawan in the men's singles, Yuli Marfuah in the women's singles, Flandy Limpele and Sigit Budiarto in the men's doubles, Deyana and Indarti in the women's doubles and Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur in the mixed doubles.

The lineup is completely different from Tuesday's match except in the women's and mixed doubles.

Christian said that he wanted to see all shuttlers' performances prior to the semifinals on Friday.

"We have ensured a ticket to the semifinals, therefore, I want to see their performance in today's match to arrange the lineup for the semifinals.

"If I don't field them today, there won't be any chance for shuttlers to experience pressure on court. It will also be too risky if we field shuttlers who have never played in the round- robin for the semis.

"We are also aiming to beat Denmark and at the same time make amends for our defeat in the 1999 semifinals.

Denmark will likely field the same lineup as on Monday, when it crushed England 5-0.

Wednesday will also see China, aiming for its fourth title, face Korea. The teams' lineups were unavailable, as of going to press. (yan)