Indonesia dominates Milo Open
Indonesia dominates Milo Open
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Pia Zebadiah upset second-seed Tai Yi of China as young
Indonesian shuttlers dominated the quarterfinal matches at the
Milo Junior Indonesia Open badminton championship here on
Thursday.
Pia overcame the first game's loss and second game's jitters
to finally defeat Tai 3-11, 11-8, 11-1 in the girls' section. It
was a sweet revenge by the Indonesian who was earlier beaten 11-
2, 11-9 in the team event of Asian Junior Badminton Championship
in Jakarta.
The two other Indoensian semifinalists are third-seeded
Belaetrix Manuputty, who defeated her compatriot Riza Nur Azizah
11-4, 11-2, and fourth seed Aprilia, who thrashed Yuan Kartika
11-2, 11-2.
Top seed Wang Yihan is the only Chinese player left in the
semifinal after she brushed aside Indonesian Feiran Mesawardhani
11-1, 11-9.
The hosts also dominated the boys' event with Adnan Fauzi,
Kusuma Sakti, Andreas Adityawarman, coming through into the
semifinals leaving Lu Qicheng of China the only foreigner in the
final four.
Pia and Tai struggled against the wind, with both admitting to
being confused by unpredictable gusts.
Pia was the most to suffer as she conceded a string of
unforced errors to lose easily in the first game.
She looked unable to recover, finding herself 1-8 down in the
second game before regrouping to hold off Tai's charge.
It was Tai who looked under pressure in the deciding game
while Pia stamped her authority to seal a convincing third-game
win and a ticket to the semifinals.
"I was confused by the direction of the gusts. It looked like
the wind was coming from every direction. I just started focusing
on the game and tried short serves when I was down 1-8 in the
second game," Pia said.
She will take on Belaetrix while Aprilia will tackle Wang in
the semifinals.
In the boys' quarterfinal matches, second seed Fauzi defeated
Wisnu Haryo Putro of Indonesia 10-15, 15-3, 15-3.
He will meet Kusuma Sakti, a 15-8, 15-5 winner over Teo Kok
Siang of Malaysia 15-8, 15-5. Andreas will try to stop Lu in the
other semifinal match.
In the mixed doubles, Chinese pair top seed Li Tian/Ma Jin
will meet unseeded Achmad Tantowi/Dining, while Indonesian pair
Rio Willianto/N Kesya will face Bona Septano/Pia Zebadiah in the
semifinals.
Matches in the girls' doubles and boys' doubles would finish
late on Thursday night.