Indonesia cruches Thailand in Thomas Cup opener

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Guangzhou, China

Indonesia managed to clear the first hurdle in its bid to defend the Thomas Cup trophy by crushing Thailand 5-0 in the Group B matches in Guangzhou, China.

Malaysia and host China also booked their own clean-sweep victories on Friday evening here.

Marlev Mainaky began the reign after easily beating Boonsak Polsana in the first tie with a 7-4, 7-4, 7-2 victory at Guangzhou's Tianhe Sports Center.

The 2001 Indonesian Open winner Marlev played calmly with precise placing of the ball and sharp smashes, which appeared to earn him points.

Boonsak, however, proved almost indomitable, forcing Marlev to work hard en route to victory.

Marlev wrapped up the match when Boonsak's return shot landed outside of Marlev's back line. The victory extended his personal head-to-head score to three against one.

In the second match, Indonesia's top doubles of Chandra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto improved the team's lead after defeating Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas also with a 3-0 victory.

The pair started shakily, at times being caught up in their own action without solid cooperation. Still they won the first game 8-6.

The remaining two games turned out to be an easy task for the Indonesians, winning convincingly 7-0 in the second and 7-4 in the third.

Taufik Hidayat then took to the court and decided the defending champion's triumph after holding off Anupap Thiraratsakul in five sets.

Anupap took the first two sets quite easily with 7-1, 7-2 as Taufik seemed to have lost his skills in implementing strategies on the court. Taufik made too many unforced errors, although he still retained the technical skills after being absent from the court for quite a long time.

Finding his rhythm, Taufik fought back in the remaining three sets, scoring 8-6, 8-6, 7-0 to seal Indonesia's victory.

Coach Joko Supriyanto admitted that Taufik had lost his touch after his long absence and had to work hard before recovering his play.

"Taufik was still looking for his best play and the best way to beat Anupap. It's natural after being off the court," he said.

Indonesia completed its mauling of Thailand with victories in the second doubles and the third singles.

Halim Haryanto and Tri Kusheryanto beat Khunakorn Sudhisodhi and Patapol Ngernsrisuk 7-5, 7-5, 7-1 in the doubles, while Hendrawan beat Jakrapan Thanathiratham 0-7, 8-7,7-5, 2-7, 7-1 in the singles.

In the other Group B's match, Malaysia also swept aside newcomer Germany 5-0 without losing a single game. The Indonesian men will next meet archrival Malaysia on Sunday.

"The match against Malaysia will be tougher than the one against Thailand as Malaysia has better skills," team manager Christian Hadinata told reporters.

"Malaysia is our archrival in badminton which involves a long history of tradition. We have alternately beaten each other so far," he said.

In the women's team Uber Cup, China beat Germany 5-0 and Japan was beaten 1-4 by South Korea.