Indonesians off to poor start in Badminton GP

JAKARTA (Agencies): Indonesian shuttlers performed poorly on Wednesday's opening day of round robin matches in the Grand Prix Finals in Bandar Seri Begawan.

Men's singles Taufik Hidayat, third seeded here, unexpectedly was upset by Malaysian Wong Choon Han 12-15, 15-13, 15-9. Taufik defeated Wong twice in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei.

"Taufik took a lot of chances and made a lot of mistakes toward the end," said Wong, 22, as quoted by AFP.

Taufik, 18, shrugged off his defeat, saying it was caused by his "emotions", and promised to rebound. He almost certainly needs to win his two remaining group matches in order to reach Saturday's semifinals.

Teammate Budi Santoso also bowed out to Danish world number two Peter Gade Christensen 9-15, 9-15.

Coach Agus Dwi Santoso said Budi made many unforced errors, in contrast to the Dane who played safely.

World number one Sun Jun of China had to work hard to overcome Malaysian veteran Ong Ewe Hock 15-13, 17-14.

Sun, who has suffered from a back injury since winning the World Championships in Copenhagen in May, wiped away all doubts about his ability to win his third straight title in the event.

"It still hurts. I can't stretch fully," Sun said of his injury.

Veteran Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist and the oldest player here at 34, was still too strong for young Chinese shuttler Chen Gang, winning 9-15, 15-14, 15-5.

Indonesia's Hendrawan, world ranked 11, survived his first test against Fung Permadi, an Indonesian playing for Chinese Taipei, to win 8-15, 15-9, 15-4. Indonesian Marlev Mainaky beat compatriot Hariyanto Arbi 15-12, 15-9 while Luo Yigang of China beat teammate Xia Xuanze 6-15, 17-14, 15-6.

The women's singles Indonesia Open winner, Lidya Djaelawidjaja of Indonesia, suffered a humiliating defeat against Danish Open winner Camilla Martin of Denmark, world ranked six, losing 0-11, 0-11 in less than 15 minutes.

"I have no idea why I performed really badly. My waist felt stiff and I couldn't concentrate for the match," Lidya said.

Her coach Liang Chiusia said: "Lidya couldn't move her legs today. I know she has prepared really well for the event but I'm shocked to see her poor form, maybe the worst ever."

"I wasn't really pressured today. I did not underestimate her this time. And she made a lot of mistakes," Martin said. Martin lost to Lidya, world number 11, in the Indonesia Open.

Lidya's teammate Cindana Hartono Kusuma also failed to bother world number one Dai Yun of China, bowing out 7-11, 9-11.

Men's doubles defending champions Antonius Budi Irianto and Denny Kantono of Indonesia lost to top seeded Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon of South Korea 8-15, 4-15.

Denny said after his defeat: "The Koreans were really fast at the net and we can't match their speed."

Coach Herry Imam Pierngadi said: "Antonius and Denny have lost their speed and power. We can't deny that because it's a natural process of their age."

Mixed doubles pair Bambang Suprianto and Zelin Resiana managed to overcome Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark 17-14, 15- 7.

World number one women's duo Ge Fei and Gu Jun of China were forced to scramble to beat juniors Chen Lin and Jiang Xuelian 9- 15, 15-4, 15-13. (yan)