Indonesians off to poor start in Badminton GP
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)