Indonesian men's singles through to ABC quarters

Indonesian men's singles through to ABC quarters

JAKARTA (Agencies): Three Indonesian men's players singles reached the quarterfinals of the US$136,000 JVC Asian Badminton Championships on Thursday evening, but their female compatriots crashed to the might of the Chinese players.

Fifteenth seed Indra Wijaya surged back to defeat Luo Yigang of China 15-9, 15-3. Indra will face Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia, who beat Chien Yu Hsiu of Chinese Taipei 17-15, 15-11.

Teammate Marlev Mainaky, showing a marked improvement in form with defeats of Danes Peter Rasmussen and Peter Gade Christensen in the Singapore and Indonesia opens recently, will play Chen Gang of China who he lost to in last year's final.

Marlev defeated Malaysian Yong Hock Kin 15-11, 11-15, 15-12.

"Both of them are attacking players but Marlev did very well at the net and he managed to force Hock Kin to lift the shuttle which really gave an advantage to the Indonesian player," Malaysian coach Kwan Yoke Meng was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Marlev will try to take revenge against second seeded Chen, who beat Japanese Keita Matsuda 15-6, 15-8.

Junior Johan Hadikusuma also reached the quarters by beating Ramesh Nathan of Malaysia 15-11, 15-11. Johan will challenge Chen Hong of China, who beat Shon Seung-mo of South Korea 15-13, 16- 17, 15-9.

All national women's singles were forced to head home after losing in the third round. Meiluawati had to bow out to world number four Zhang Ning 2-11, 7-11. Newcomer Dwi Retnowati learned a valuable lesson from her defeat to Chinese Gong Zhichao, third seeded here, 0-11, 3-11.

Ninik Masrikah troubled second seeded Ye Zhaoying by taking her to a deuce first game but Ye's experience told in her 13-11, 11-3 win.

In the men's doubles, a new partnership of Tri Kusheryanto and Bambang Suprianto defeated Malaysian newcomers Rosman Razak and Chen Choow Eng 6-15, 15-8, 15-6.

Juniors Ade Lukas and Santoso Sugiharjo also advanced by beating Chinese pair Yu Jinhou and Chen Qiqiu 15-9, 15-12. But Andreas and Luluk Hadiyanto lost to third seeded Chan Chong Ming and Jeremy Gan of Malaysia 12-15, 6-15.

Antara reported that the new mixed doubles partnerships of Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur beat Japan's Yudo Kubota and Haruko Matsuda 15-5, 15-10 and Tri Kusheryanto and Zelin Resiana beat Malaysians Chang Chong Ming and Joanne Quay 15-8, 15-7. The Indonesian pairs have switched partners.

Juniors Imam Tohari and Vita Marissa were trounced by the world's top pair Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min of South Korea 0- 15, 2-15.

Separately, the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) forbade reporters from entering the Indonesian Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Friday.

A security guard told reporters to wait for players in the lobby outside the training hall according to the instructions of the PBSI official in charge of athletes development, Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar.

Siregar said the restriction was intended to stop visitors from disturbing players during training sessions.

"The instruction is mainly addressed to fans who often enter the hall during training. Sometimes they disturb the players by asking them for photographs and autographs, ignoring the fact that the players are still training," he said.

Reporters questioned Siregar if the measure was taken because of two controversies confronting the association. Two senior men's singles players, Hariyanto Arbi and Rexy Mainaky, have announced plans to move to other countries.

The association is also dealing with reports that a top PBSI official has sexually harassed national women's shuttlers. The scandal was reportedly solved internally. (yan)