Indonesia's Alan, Ardy swap world rankings
Indonesia's Alan, Ardy swap world rankings
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's singles players, Alan
Budikusuma and Ardy Wiranata swapped places in the latest world
rankings released by the International Badminton Federation
yesterday.
Olympic gold medalist Alan Budikusuma shot to the third on the
list with 273.73 points, pushing Ardy to fifth with 257.90.
The top two places remained under Indonesia's control, with
world champion Hariyanto Arbi and his predecessor Joko Suprianto
amassing 331.51 and 283.09 points respectively.
Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark became the only non-
Indonesian to make the top five. The Dane, who won the Denmark
Open and was a runner-up to Joko in the German Open recently,
collected 271.61 points to vault to fourth place.
Olympic bronze medalist Hermawan Susanto dropped two places
from fourth to sixth with 251.92 points. Young Hendrawan extended
the litany of Indonesian players on the list as he moved up to
10th. Hendrawan lost to Hoyer-Larsen in the Denmark Open.
There were no major changes in the women's singles rankings,
except that Chinese world champion Ye Zhaoying moved to second
place.
Indonesia's Susi Susanti stayed on top of the world rankings
with 334.88 to go 15 points clear of nemesis Ye. The two are
expected to resume their rivalry at the China Open next week. Ye
has beaten Susi at their last three meetings since May.
Asian Games gold medalist Bang Soo-hyung of South Korea went
down one place to the third with 317.70 points. All-England
champion Lim Xiaoqing of Sweden was a distance fourth with
278.65.
Hariyanto, Alan and Hermawan are playing in the on-going Hong
Kong Open. Alan joined Hariyanto and Hermawan to reach the third
round after his 15-3, 15-0 drubbing of Suka Takahiro of Japan on
Thursday.
Second seed Alan and fourth seed Hermawan are tipped to meet
in today's semifinals. The other semifinal is expected to pit
Hariyanto against Hoyer-Larsen, the 15-8, 15-2 second-round
winner over Chang Jeng-shyuang of Chinese Taipei.
In the women's singles, Indonesia lost one of its two players
when Cindana crashed to Yao Yan of China in three sets 2-11, 11-
7, 5-11. Mia Audina kept Indonesia's hopes alive with a crushing
11-0, 11-4 win over Zheng Yaqiong of China in Thursday's second-
round match.
The top two seeds, Bang and Ye, also safely cruised to the
third round. Bang routed Debra O'Connor of Trinidad 11-2, 11-5,
and Ye trounced Thailand's Somharuthai Jareonsiri 11-2, 11-1.
(amd)