Indonesia shuttlers on track for individual events

Indonesia shuttlers on track for individual events

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

Putting Wednesday's disheartening loss to host South Korea in the
men's team final aside, Indonesian shuttlers managed to cruise to
the second round in badminton individual events on Thursday.

Men's singles shuttler Hendrawan did not find any difficulties
in a rout of India's Gupta Abhinn Shyam 15-5, 15-5 although his
rank is lower than the Indian.

Hendrawan is currently ranked number 105 while the Indian is
89th in the world. Hendrawan will next meet Ronald Susilo of
Singapore who had a bye on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Taufik Hidayat also had a bye and will have his
first match on Friday against Japan's Keita Masuda who defeated
Chen Feng of Chinese Taipei 15-12, 15-12.

Indonesian mixed doubles pairs also cruised to the next round.

Tri Kusheryanto and Emma Ermawati moved to the quarterfinals
after defeating the Japanese pair of Tadashi Otsuka and Shizuka
Yamamoto 2-1.

The Indonesians won the first game 11-5, but lost 9-11 in the
second game. Tri and Emma had an easy 11-0 win to take the match
in the third game.

Seeded third in the tournament, Tri and Emma will next
challenge the Chinese pair of Chen Qiqiu and Zhang Jiwei who had
an easy 11-5, 11-2 victory over Malaysia's Chang Kim Wai and Wong
Pei Tty.

Another Indonesian duo, second seeded Nova Widhianto and Vita
Marissa also had an easy 11-5, 11-5 win over Yau Tse Yuk and
Louisa Koon Wai Chee of Hong Kong.

Nova and Vita are set to face Chinese Zhang Jun and Gao Ling
who routed O Man Tong and Long Ying of Macau.

Indonesia's men's doubles pair of Candra Wijaya and Sigit
Budiarto will start their campaign on Friday against Fujimoto and
Sasahi Sho of Japan.

Halim Haryanto and Tri Kusheryanto are set to face Malaysian
pair of Choong Tan Fook and Chang Kim Wai.

Indonesia does not have participants in the women's singles or
doubles events.

Indonesian badminton manager team Christian Hadinata expected
the Badminton Association of Indonesian to file an official
complaint with the Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) and the
International Badminton Federation (IBF) over the irregularities
during the men's team final when South Korean linesmen blatantly
gave their shuttlers favorable calls.

"There is the international relations division in PBSI who
should follow up on the incident," said Christian.

Christian said that all the Indonesian shuttlers had regained
their composure after the shock of Wednesday's irregularities and
were ready to play.

"There is no need to walk out if the referees make a clear
decision," he said.

Separately in the Geumjeong Tennis Stadium in the Geumjeong
Sports Park, Indonesian number one seeds Angelique Widjaja and
Wynne Adiati Prakusya secured their semifinals berths after
defeating Sun Tian-tian and Li Ting of China in the women's
doubles event.

They had to fight hard to win the first set 7-5 but had an
easier 6-2 score in the second set of their quarterfinals match.

The Indonesians will meet the Japanese pair of Saori Obata and
Akiko Morigami in a semifinal showdown.

The Japanese defeated Janet Lee and Chiang Chia Jung of
Chinese Taipei with a dominating shutout victory 6-0, 6-0.

In the other semifinals, another Japanese pair of Yuka Yoshida
and Miho Saeki will face host Kim Mi-ok and Choi Young-ja.