Indonesian shuttlers reach ABC 2nd round

JAKARTA (JP): National shuttlers on Wednesday moved on to the second round of the US$136,000 JVC Asian Badminton Championships (ABC) in Kuala Lumpur.

Men's singles Johan Hadikusuma beat qualifier S. Janaka of Sri Lanka 15-2, 15-9 to face Chang Jeng Shyong of Chinese Taipei in the second round. Chang defeated Amran Kambar of Brunei Darussalam 15-7, 15-6.

Malaysian James Chua beat Sachin Ratti of India 12-15, 15-5, 15-1 to challenge Park Tae-sang of South Korea, who won in a walkover against Maxian Krouglik of Kazakhstan.

Tam Kai Chuen of Hong Kong also reached the second round after overcoming Anuphap Teeraratsakul of Thailand 15-9, 15-6. He will next meet Chen Wei of China.

Top seeded and world number three Fung Permadi of Chinese Taipei and second seeded Chen Gang of China look set to cruise to the second round where they will face qualifiers.

World number one Sun Jun of China failed to show up due to a leg injury.

There are high hopes for Indonesia's Marlev Mainaky, who unexpectedly reached the final last year, losing to Chen Gang of China.

Marlev is likely to meet a tough opponent in the third round -- Malaysian Yong Hock Kin, the 1998 Indonesia Open champion. If he manages to reach the quarterfinals, Marlev will likely meet last year's winner Chen.

If Marlev can step into the semifinal, he will most likely face either Malaysian old hand Ong Ewe Hock or China's Luo Yigang.

In the women's singles, Meiluawati of Indonesia defeated Ayihsa 11-1, 11-2 to meet Ng Ching of Hong Kong, who had to work hard to overcome Meenakshi of India 11-3, 11-13, 11-8.

Dwi Retnowati also reached the second round thanks to Kazakhstan Saule Kustavleova who resigned from the championships. Dwi will meet Manjusha Kanwar of India, who beat Kennie Asuncion of the Philippines 11-5, 11-3.

Teammate Ninik Masrikah had no trouble eliminating Filipino Irene Chiu 11-3, 11-2 to meet Chan Mei Mei of Hong Kong. The latter defeated Lee Yin Yin of Malaysia 11-7, 11-8. (yan)