Indonesia men's singles, doubles have good draws

Indonesia men's singles, doubles have good draws

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's singles and doubles have good
draws in the US$180,000 Yonex Japan Open in Tokyo starting
Wednesday. Indonesian shuttlers at least are likely to reach the
quarterfinals in the final qualifying round for the Sydney
Olympics in September.

Third seed Marlev Mainaky, runner up in the 1999 Grand Prix
Finals in Brunei Darussalam, will face little-known Japanese
Hidetaka Yamada. If he wins, he will meet the winner between
Malaysian Pei Wei Chung and Takaki Hayashi of Japan.

Should Marlev reaches the third round, he is likely to meet
13th seeded Dong Jiong of China. If the Indonesian manages to
overcome Dong, he is to face another Chinese, sixth seeded Ji
Xinpeng.

Fourth seeded Hendrawan meets Shogo Inagaki of Japan in the
first round. If he wins, the Indonesian will face the winner
between Chang Feng-Chin of China Taipei and Shuichi Nakao.

If Hendrawan reaches the third round, he is likely to meet
dark horse Boonsak Polsana of Thailand. Should he manage to
overcome the Thai, Hendrawan will likely challenge fifth seed
Chen Hong of China.

World number one Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark remains a
favorite in the event despite the presence of the 1999 world
champion Sun Jun of China.

Indonesian top seeds Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan start to
face tough contenders in the quarterfinals -- either Malaysians
Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock or Thais Khunakorn Sudhisodhi and
Kitipon Kitikul.

Candra and Tony, who have a bigger chance to win a title here
after Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon of South Korea withdrew, are
expected to meet another South Korean pair of Lee Dong-soo and
Yoo Yong-sung, seeded second.

However, the 1998 Grand Prix Finals winners Antonius and Denny
Kantono are expected to stop the Koreans' path to the finals as
they will likely meet in the quarters.

The 1996 Olympics gold medalists Ricky Subagja and Rexy
Mainaky, seeded third, will likely meet tough contenders
Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Pansisavas of Thailand in the
quarters.

In the women's singles, juniors Yuli Marfuah and Niniek
Masrikah have slight chances to reach the second round as they
must face talented Japanese, Yasuko Mizui and Takako Ida
respectively.

Chinese Dai Yun, world number one and top seed here, is likely
to repeat her battle against Dane Camilla Martin in the final.
Dai lost to Martin, Gade Christensen's fiance, in last year's
World Championships in Copenhagen.

Fifth seeds Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban will likely
reach the women's doubles quarters to face South Koreans Kim So-
yeon and Jung Yeon-kyung. While eighth seeds Emma Ermawati and
Vita Marissa are likely to challenge fourth seeds Yim Kyung-jin
and Lee Hyo-jung of South Korea in another quarters.

In the mixed doubles, old partners Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti
Timur, seeded second, are expected to challenge top seeds Liu
Yong and Ge Fei in the finals. (yan)