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.