Indonesian shuttlers advance to Swiss semis

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's singles shuttler Hendrawan and the men's doubles team of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian reached the semifinals of the four-star Swiss Open in Basel, Switzerland.

Eighth seeded Hendrawan upset second seeded Chen Hong of China 15-10, 15-8 on Friday in 47 minutes. The Indonesian will face All England champion Xia Xuanze of China in Saturday's semifinals.

The tournament offers Hendrawan the opportunity to showcase his skills after being sidelined for nearly two months earlier this year with typhoid.

Hendrawan, whose best performance was at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, where he won the silver medal, has not won a Grand Prix series title since.

The 28-year-old Indonesian is the country's sole hope to win a singles title in this tournament. This follows the poor performance of Indonesian shuttlers in the All England, where only Taufik Hidayat reached the final, where he fell to Xia.

Hendrawan's opponent on Saturday, Xia had to sweat out a 15- 12, 14-17, 15-12 victory over the towering Thomas Johansson of Sweden, in a match that lasted one hour and eight minutes.

The other semifinal will pit another Chinese shuttler, Ji Xinpeng, against Dane Kenneth Jonassen. Ji defeated little-known Niels Christian Kaldau of Denmark 15-8, 17-14 in 37 minutes, while Jonassen ended Thailand's last remaining hope, Boonsak Polsana, in a tough 75-minute match that finished 15-12, 8-15, 15-9.

Indonesia remained alive in the men's doubles after Flandy and Didi, Eng Hian's nickname, topped the tournament's third seeds and Malaysia's top duo Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah 15-13, 15- 12 in 54 minutes.

The Indonesians will face the top seeded Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon of South Korea in Saturday's semifinals. Kim and Ha, who won the All England, enjoyed a comfortable 15-6, 15-2 victory over Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Lars Paaske of Denmark.

In the other semifinals, South Koreans Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung will meet fourth seeded Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen of Denmark. Lee and Yoo defeated Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson of England 15-6, 15-12, while Eriksen and Larsen defeated the 1996 Olympic silver medalists Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia 15-8, 15-8.

Indonesia's other doubles teams failed to reach the semifinals. Women's doubles Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban were powerless against top seeded Ra Kyung-min and Chung Jae-hee of South Korea, losing 2-15, 17-14, 8-15. Teammates Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta bowed out to the South Koreans Yim Jyung- jin and Lee Hyo-jung 15-11, 5-15, 6-15 in 65 minutes.

The Indonesian mixed doubles team of Agung Wahyu and Emma Ermawati lost to Zhang Jun and Gao Ling of China 9-15, 8-15.

In the women's singles semifinals, seventh seeded Lee Kyung- won of South Korea defeated unseeded Zeng Yaqiong of China 13-10, 13-10, and will now face second seeded Gong Ruina of China. Gong beat Kelly Morgan of Wales 11-8, 11-2.

Top seeded Dai Yun clinched a place in the semifinals by defeating Kim Ji-hyun of South Korea 11-4, 11-8 in 34 minutes. Dai will face compatriot Han Jingna, who overwhelmed Thailand's Sujitra Eakmongkolpaisarn 5-11, 11-2, 11-0. (yan)