Irwansyah survives test in Hong Kong
Irwansyah survives test in Hong Kong
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's singles competitor Irwansyah reached the quarterfinals of the US$30,000 Hong Kong Open badminton championships after crushing Malaysian Ramesh Nathan 15-7, 15-9.
Irwansyah is scheduled to face Cai Yun of China, who upset top seeded Rio Suryana, an Indonesian playing for Australia.
Earlier Tuesday, Rio met little resistance from Wai Tsz-kit of Hong Kong, China, by securing a top 16 berth at 15-5 and 15-2.
Unfortunately, Indonesian Jeffer Rosobin, fifth seeded here, crashed in the opening round to Hariyanto Agus, another Indonesian playing for Hong Kong, 10-15, 10-15.
"I am not in top form nowadays, that's why I lost the match," Jeffer said, as quoted by Xinhua.
The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) official in charge of athletes development, Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, said the one-star tournament would serve as a final evaluation for both Irwansyah and Jeffer, who had never showed great performance during their five-year tenure at the Indonesian Badminton Center.
Women's singles Yuli Marfuah, second seeded here, was competing against Salakjit Polsana of Thailand in the second round late on Wednesday. Yuli had an easy win over Ramesh Divya of India 11-0, 11-3 on Tuesday.
But junior Niniek Masrikah had to bow out to sixth seeded Chan Mei-mei of Hong Kong 11-8, 6-11, 1-11.
Unseeded Chinese Dong Fang dismissed seventh seed Fatimah Kumin Lim of Singapore 11-1 and 11-4 in the first round.
Dong's teammate Wei Yan, who entered the top eight in the five-star China Open a week ago, outclassed eighth seed Ng Ching of Hong Kong with an identical score to Dong.
Pre-favorite Wang Chen of Hong Kong also was out of the tournament when the former Chinese Uber Cup finalist in 1996, and now representing Hong Kong, China, had to withdraw because of chicken pox.
Men's doubles Endra Mulyajaya and Hadi Saputra had to bow out to world championships runners up Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung of South Korea, top seeded here, 6-15, 5-15.
Indonesia's new partnership of Sigit Budiarto and Halim Heryanto faced Chinese juniors Chen Wei and Cai Yun late on Wednesday.
Sigit and Halim had a walk over win against Germans Michael Helber and Bjoern Siegemund.
Siregar said Sigit still had a problem adjusting with competitive situations as he had been banned from tournaments for one year.
Women's doubles of Vita Marissa and Mona Santoso managed to reach the quarterfinals to challenge top seeds Chen Lia and Jiang Xuelian of China.
Vita and Mona had to fight hard to eliminate Machiko Yoneya and Erni Seki of Japan 15-10, 12-15, 15-13.
In the mixed doubles, Nova Widianto and Upi Chrisnawati failed to contest third seeds Chan Chong Ming and Joanna Swee Ling Quay of Malaysia to lose 12-15, 11-15. (yan)