Indonesia takes only one title in Milo Open

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Medan, North Sumatra

Host Indonesia managed to secure only one title, in the mixed doubles final, at the US$11,000 Milo Junior Indonesia Open 2004 badminton championships on Sunday, down from four titles last year.

In its maiden outing in the tournament, the Chinese team proved its position as a badminton powerhouse by romping away with three titles in the boys' singles, girls' singles and girls' doubles, while Korea obtained one title in the boys' doubles.

Indonesia's sole medalists, Muhammad Rizal/Greysia Polii, the second seeds in the mixed doubles, thrashed top seeded Korean pair Lee Yong Dae/Kang Hae Won 15-7, 15-11 in the last match.

In the boy's singles, second seed Tommy Sugiarto, son of former Indonesian world champion Icuk Sugiarto, failed to defeat Chinese top seed Gong Wei Jie, going down 15-5, 15-11.

In the first game, Tommy tried to challenge Gong with fast attacks and smashes. The strategy failed to work, however, putting him back 2-5, 5-8, before finally losing 15-5.

In the second game, Tommy started to take Gong on with long rallies, thus frustrating Gong and forcing him to make mistakes. As a result, Tommy was finally able to draw level at 11-11.

Even though Gong looked the more tired, Tommy made a number of errors, hitting the shuttlecock into the net or wide. His final hit was wide, allowing Gong to end the second game 15-11.

Tommy said after the match that he lacked confidence and had doubts throughout about his game.

"These were my key problems today," he said.

Coach M. Hatta admitted that Tommy appeared hesitant in the first game, but said he had regained his confidence somewhat in the second game.

"When the first game was over, I told Tommy to challenge Gong with rallies. He did quite well in the second game, but unfortunately, at the critical point of 11-11, he made too many errors and lost the match. Indeed, Gong played much better today," he said.

Indonesia's second seeds in the girls' doubles final, Greysia Polii/Heni Budiman, had to bow out to Chinese top seeds Pan Pan/Feng Chen 15-2, 10-15, 15-6.

"We did our best to win the game, but the Chinese girls played much better. They were able to find their rhythm and took advantage of our players' tiredness in the third game," coach Musripin said.

Heni said that she and Greysia were able to find their rhythm in the second game, but in the third game, the Chinese players attacked them simultaneously. "Besides, I was not very cool today and I played badly in the third game," she said.

The Indonesian pair led 5-3 in the third game, but they made numerous errors including hitting the ball either wide or into the net to allow the Chinese pair finish the game 15-6.

In the girls' singles, top seed and favorite Lu Lan beat compatriot Wang Lin 13-11, 11-4.

Boys' doubles top seeds Jung Jung Young/Lee Yong Dae of South Korea grabbed the title after defeating Chinese third seeds Shen Ye/He Hanbin 15-9, 7-15, 17-16.

"It was a very tight match. They had met before," Korean team coach Lee Deuk Choon said.

Last year, Indonesia took four titles in the tournament, and in the girls' doubles Greysia Polii/Heni Budiman were the runners-up.