Indonesia leaves Taiwan empty-handed

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian badminton squad came away from the Taiwan Open gold-less after each of its top players flopped against their opponents in the finals at the Taiwan Open on Sunday.

Following a major disappointment at the Hong Kong, where no Indonesian made the finals, the team continued its dismal form in Chinese Taipei.

It had three representatives in the finals of the US$120,000 tournament only to see them all beaten by their respective opponents.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro was defeated by Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia 15-3, 7-15, 4-15, according to Antara.

It was the third loss Sony had conceded from Wong in their four meetings. Sony's only victory came in the second round of Swiss Open.

Sunday's defeat also denied the 19-year-old Sony his second title of the year after he triumphed in his defense of the Asian championship in Jakarta last month.

The men's doubles pairing of Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian also failed to add to a recent victory in Germany after they looked second-class against their opponents, the top seeded duo of Ha Tae-kwon/Kim Dong-moon of South Korea in a 4-15, 1-15 rout.

It was vengeance for the Koreans who lost to the Indonesians in the German Open final.

In another Indonesia-Korea final, the mixed doubles team of Nova Widianto/Vita Marissa bowed out 7-15, 5-15 to the world's number one mixed-doubles pair Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min.

It was the second match between the two sides this year after the Indonesian Open where the Indonesians lost in the quarterfinals.

The Taiwan Open was Kim/Ra's tenth title this year since their victory on their own soil in April.

The Korean team collected its third title with Ra Kyung- min/Lee Kyung-won beating teammates Hwang Yu-mi/Lee Hyo-jung 15- 13, 15-9.

Mia Audina of the Netherlands took the women's singles trophy with a 11-2, 11-9 win over Pi Hongyan of France.