Indonesia's pairs fall at Thailand Open
Indonesia's pairs fall at Thailand Open
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian badminton squad failed to hold up against the
top seeds as two pairs crashed out in the second round of the
US$50,000 Thailand Open in Bangkok on Thursday.
From the results released in the tournament's web site, Neli
Triana/Lelyana Daisy Chandra flopped 3-15, 7-15 in their
challenge against top seeds from Japan Chikako Nakayama/Keiko
Yoshitomo
Greysia Polii/Henny Budiman, who, like Neli and Lelyana, came
to the tournament as Indonesia's second-layer players, seemed to
improve their game in the second round only to go out 5-15, 10-15
to fourth seeds Gail Emms/Donna Kellogs of England.
Jo Novita/Lita Nurlita are Indonesia's only pair in the
women's doubles. They reached the next stage after a tough fight,
to win 17-15, 12-15, 15-11 over home-hopefuls Saralee
Thungthongkam/Kulchala Worawichichaikul.
The Thai pair beat Indonesia's other pair Lilyana
Natsir/Rintan Aprilia 15-10, 15-12 in the opening round.
Jo/Lita were playing against Zhang Dan/Zhang Yewen of China
later on Thursday.
Jo might at least expect a repeat of the 2001 edition when she
managed to reach the finals in the women's doubles with Eny
Erlangga and mixed doubles with Candra Wijaya.
In the men's singles, Wimpie Mahardi and Simon Santoso
advanced to the third round with a 15-11, 15-5 win over Thai
Chatchapong Leamkoathong and 15-7, 15-6 win over Kuan Beng Hong
of Malaysia.
Andre Kurniawan, the other Indonesian singles player, exited
early in the first round.
Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati, Titon Gustaman/Lelyana Daisy
Chandra and Rizal Mohammad/Neli Triana cruised to the second
round in the mixed doubles.
The men's doubles competition began on Thursday but Indonesia
has already lost two of its five pairs with Candra Wijaya/Halim
Haryanto withdrawing because Candra was injured during a training
session.
Titon Gustaman/Mohammad Rizal did not survive the qualifying
stage.
Indonesia is not competing in the women's singles as the
Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) decided to ground the
players for further training after their poor performance at the
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam last December.