Indonesians dominate at Japan Open

Indonesians dominate at Japan Open

TOKYO (AFP): Title holder Ardy Wiranata and Olympic champion Alan Budikusuma led Indonesia into a strong position at the Japan Open badminton here yesterday.

Top seed Ardy stayed on course for a semifinal clash with 1993 champion and teammate Hariyanto Arbi with a 15-6, 15-6 win over Peter Rasmussen of Denmark.

Second seed Alan, who ended with only the China Open title last season, trounced Japan's Hideaki Motoyama 15-1, 15-7. Joint third seed Arbi comfortably went through as Russian Andrei Antropov withdrew because of domestic problems.

"It was a tough match," said Ardy, playing for the first time since winning the Grand Prix Final in Bangkok last month.

His third-round opponent will be Ge Cheng of China, who eliminated Darren Hall of England 10-15, 15-8, 15-12.

Alan will play Park Sung-woo of South Korea, winner over Peter Espersen of Denmark 12-15, 17-16, 15-1. And Hariyanto will meet 1990 and 1994 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Rashid Sidek of Malaysia, who shot down Ahn Jae-chang of South Korea 15-12, 15-4.

Indonesia also took another four places with world champion Joko Suprianto, Hermawan Susanto, Fung Permadi and Lioe Tiong Ping storming through to the third round.