Indonesian men's singles crash out in Danish quarters
JAKARTA (Agencies): Indonesian men's singles shuttlers crashed out in the quarterfinals of the US$120,000 V6 Danish Open in Vejle, Denmark, on Friday evening.
Third seeded Taufik Hidayat made an unexpected departure, bowing out to 1996 Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark 9-15, 11-15.
The veteran Hoyer-Larsen will now face top seeded Sun Jun of China. Sun, the reigning World Champion, defeated Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark 15-9, 15-9.
Fourth seeded Hariyanto Arbi of Indonesia was upset by rising star Wong Choon Han of Malaysia, seeded eighth here, 7-15, 8-15. Wong, the 1999 Southeast Asian Games silver medalist, will next challenge home favorite and second seeded Peter Gade Christensen.
Gade Christensen, the 1999 All England winner, defeated Marlev Mainaky of Indonesia 17-14, 15-8.
In the women's singles, Chinese shuttlers dominated, securing three of the semifinal berths.
Top seeded Dai Yun had an easy 11-2, 11-1 victory over Yasuka Mizui of Japan and now faces third seeded Camilla Martin of Denmark. Martin, the crowd favorite to win the tournament, had to sweat out her 5-11, 11-8, 13-11 victory over debutante Tang Chunyu of China.
Dai and Martin's matchup in the semifinals will be their meeting of the year, following their clashes in the Sudirman Cup and World Championship finals in Copenhagen in May.
Zhou Mi and Gong Ruina will meet in an all-Chinese semifinals. Fourth seeded Zhou defeated 1998 Asian Games gold medalist Kanako Yonekura of Japan 11-5, 11-6, while second seeded Gong beat Mette Sorensen of Denmark 11-6, 11-9.
Doubles results
In the men's doubles, Indonesia's second seeded pairing of Antonius and Denny Kantono survived the quarterfinals, defeating the English duo of Chris Hunt and Julian Robertson 15-6, 15-10.
The Indonesians will next meet the Danish duo of Jim Laugesen and Michael Sogaard, who had to work hard to overcome Indonesia's Ade Lukas and Santoso Sugiharjo 15-10, 15-17, 15-3.
The top seeded team of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian of Indonesia bowed out to unseeded Martin Lundgaard and Lars Paaske of Denmark 5-15, 15-7, 17-15. In the semifinals, the Danish duo will face compatriots Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen, who defeated Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson of England 15-8, 15- 12.
In the women's doubles, the Indonesian pairing of Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban also reached the semifinals after eliminating the new Chinese partnership of Zhou Mi and Tang Chunyu 10-15, 15-11, 15-3. They will meet second seeded Qin Yiyuan and Gao Ling of China, who defeated Joanne Goode and Donna Kellogg of England 15-3, 15-4. (yan)