Indonesian shuttlers clear hurdles in World Championships

JAKARTA (JP): All Indonesian shuttlers cleared the first hurdles at the World Championships at San Pablo Stadium in Seville, Spain, on Tuesday, except for men's singles Johan Hadikusuma, who became the team's first casualty.

Johan, a younger brother of 1992 Olympics gold medalist Alan Budikusuma, bowed out to qualifier Kevin Han of the United States 15-8, 12-15, 4-15.

Third seed Taufik Hidayat made a comfortable victory of 15-8, 15-4 over Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands. The 19-year-old Indonesian will meet Ronald Susilo of Singapore, who defeated Jan Frohlich of the Czechs Republic 15-9, 15-4.

The 2000 Sydney Olympic silver medalist, Hendrawan, had to give his best performance before sealing a 15-4, 13-15, 15-8 victory over Japanese Kazuhiro Shimogami. Hendrawan, seeded 11th, will meet Rasmus Wengberg of Sweden who defeated Canadian Andrew Dabeka 15-12, 15-4.

Top seed Roslin Hashim of Malaysia defeated Abhinn Gupta of India 17-15, 15-5 to face Tam Kai-chuen of Hong Kong who beat Nabil Lasmari of France 15-4 15-13.

"I'm reasonably satisfied. This was my first game for a while so I think I did okay," Roslin told AFP.

"In the first, I was just looking at the way he played. Once I found my rhythm in the second I felt much better."

Fifth seed Lee Hyun-il of South Korea defeated German Bjorn Joppien 15-6, 15-7 to see Japanese Hidetaka Yamada who defeated Ruud Kuitjen of Belgium 15-9, 15-2.

Chinese young star Chen Yu made the biggest upset on Tuesday by ousting 10th seed Richard Vaughn of Wales 15-10, 15-7. Chen will challenge Malaysian Wong Choong Han who defeated Arturo Raiz of Spain 15-7, 15-8.

Indonesian women's singles Lidya Djaelawijaya had a 11-4, 11-5 victory over Maja Pohar of Slovenia. Lidya will challenge Dai Yun of China -- the 14th seed and runner up in the 1999 event -- who gave a free lesson to German Katja Michalowsky 11-0, 11-0.

"It was not such a difficult match today. But I will have a real challenge against Dai Yun tomorrow," Lidya told The Jakarta Post by phone.

"I'll go all out tomorrow. It doesn't matter if I win or lose as long as I give it my best. So far Dai Yun has beaten me twice in 1998 and 1999," she said, adding that the heat was not a real problem and pointed out the fact that it was very dry there.

Another Indonesian women's single, Yuli Marfuah, was scheduled to meet Julia Mann of England later on Tuesday.

Top seed and defending champion Camilla Martin of Denmark thrashed Jun Jae-youn of South Korea 11-4, 11-6. Martin will see Neli Boteva of Bulgaria who defeated Indonesian-born Santi Wibowo of Switzerland 11-2, 1-11, 13-12.

Third seed Gong Ruina of China easily crushed Katarzyna Krasowska of Poland 11-2, 11-3. Gong will be challenged by Malaysian Wong Miew Kheng who also had an easy 11-2, 11-3 victory over Sara Persson of Sweden.

Gong's teammate, fifth seed Gong Zhichao, also found it easy to beat Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn of Thailand 11-3, 11-1. Gong will be challenged by Japanese Kyoko Komuro who beat Ximena Bellido of Peru 11-2, 11-1.

Seventh seed Indonesian-born Mia Audina, playing for the Netherlands now, utterly crushed host Dolores Marco-Gomez 11-0, 11-0. Mia will see Elena Nozdran of Ukraine who defeated Lorena Blanco of Peru 11-4, 11-4.

In mixed doubles, Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur cruised to the second round after thrashing Indians Ismail Jaseel and Madhumita Bhist 15-4, 15-8.

Fifth seeds Nova Widhianto and Vita Marissa had to work hard to eliminate the Danish pair of Majken Vange and Jonas Ramussen 15-9, 10-15, 15-9.

Indarti Issoliana had to pair up with Ian Sullivan of England, who replaced Tri Kusherjanto as he has been suffering influenza. The new partnership reached the second round after winning 17-14, 15-8 over Albertus Susanto Njoto and Wan Ting Ling of Hong Kong. (nvn)