Indonesia faces struggle to take all badminton titles
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's bid for a second consecutive clean sweep at the Sanyo Indonesia Open badminton championships remains hanging in the balance after the Danes and Malaysians dug deep and showed excellent survival instincts in Saturday's semifinals.
Except for the men's doubles title which the host nation has already sewn up, Indonesia's top shuttlers are in for a tough time from their second-string opponents in Sunday's finals.
Top seed and local favorite Mia Audina plays the second seed, Denmark's Mette Sorensen, for the women's singles crown; Budi Santoso meets Malaysian Yong Hock Kin in the men's singles; national women's tandem of Elisa and Deyana Lomban take on experienced Danish rivals Marlene Thomsen and Rikke Olsen and defending mixed doubles champions Tri Kusharjanto and Minarti Timur face Danish duo Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen.
Both Mia and Sorensen were made to fight on their way to the final, a rerun of their quarterfinal match at the Danish Open two weeks ago which Mia won.
Mia overcame an error-prone first set to win 9-11, 11-4, 11-7 over teammate Cindana in a match that lasted about 60 minutes. Sorensen also dropped the first set before beating Meiluawati of Indonesia 8-11, 13-11, 11-7.
Indonesian coach Liang Chiusia gave credit to Cindana's never- say-die efforts but said Mia deserved the victory for her better technical skills and mental endurance that several times helped her escape from critical situations.
Mia said she would take Sorensen seriously despite the fact she had beaten the Dane and would be playing before thousands of fanatical home supporters.
"I have to fight harder tomorrow. Mette is good, her smashes and lobs are excellent. She's powerful and always runs for the shuttlecock," Mia, who was accompanied by boyfriend Tylio Lobman, told reporters.
The 23-year-old Sorensen said she was ready to take her revenge for the loss in Denmark.
"I think Mia is playing very well but I still have a chance to beat her," she said. "Mia plays very differently from other Indonesians. Her smashes and shots are dangerous and I have to watch them."
Men's singles
Budi stole the men's show as he upset the 1996 Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark 17-14, 17-14 in a tense and exhausting semifinal that lasted 75 minutes.
It was sweet revenge for Budi who lost in his three previous meetings with the lanky Dane.
World number 26 Budi told a press conference: "I believed that I had a chance to win even though I had met Hoyer-Larsen three times and always lost."
Budi said he tried to keep the shuttlecock down. "However, I was lucky in the second set because he made many unforced errors. Hoyer-Larsen didn't play well today."
Hoyer-Larsen, world-ranked seventh, said: "I'm a little bit disappointed because I had a good opportunity. In the first game, I was very close but I missed the opportunity. In the second game, I was a bit overconfident. I was in control but then my speed stopped a little bit while Budi's increased."
In the other men's singles semifinal, Hock Kin ended Taufik Hidayat's giant-killing run with an impressive no-nonsense 15-10, 15-4 win.
Hock Kin said: "Taufik was quite tense. The massive support from the spectators really put a lot of pressure on him. However, he didn't play really well, not like yesterday."
The Malaysian world number eight said he only prepared for one week for the Indonesia Open.
Taufik, the Brunei Open champion, said: "I haven't met Hock Kin for about a year since I beat him at the 1997 Asia Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur. He has been improving really well." (yan)