It's Indonesia vs S. Korea again in men's singles final

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

Men's singles shuttler Taufik Hidayat became the last Indonesian hope to grab the fourth gold medal at the Busan 2002 Asian Games after he accomplished a personal vendetta against host Shon Seung-mo in the semifinal match on Sunday.

Taufik proved that he was better, at least on Sunday, than South Korea's Shon, who defeated him during the men's team final match at the Gangseo Gymnasium in the Gangseo Sports Park last week.

The Indonesian cruised to a 10-1 lead buoyed by massive support from hundreds of Indonesian migrant workers who effectively shouted down the home crowd.

Shon, however, clawed his way back, reducing the deficit to 11-10 before Taufik won the first set 15-10.

A minor incident of linesmen inaccuracy again occurred when Taufik was up 12-10. His shot was well inside Shon's court but the local linesman called it out, and Taufik lost his serve.

Taufik apparently was not distracted and managed to control his temper to continue the match.

The Indonesian supporters, some of them coming from Seoul via a seven-hour bus ride, made the gymnasium sound like the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium in Jakarta.

Any attemp by the home crowd to chant Daehan Minguk (Republic of Korea), was immediately answered by louder chants of "IN-DO-NE-SIA!" even though the hosts outnumbered the Indonesians supporters.

Entering the second set, Shon took the lead at 1-0, but again Taufik showed his quality to go up 12-3.

Taufik, however, seemed to let his guard down, allowing Shon to again claw back in it. The Korean scored four unanswered points to get to within five, but that was all Shon could do on the evening as Taufik won 15-7 when his return landed inside the court close to the baseline behind Shon.

"I am satisfied, but I still have not achieved my goal yet (the gold medal). Personally, I have proved that I am a better shuttler than Shon," Taufik said after the match.

Taufik will now face another host shuttler, Lee Hyun-il who defeated another Indonesian shuttler, Hendrawan.

Hendrawan could have set up an all-Indonesian final but he appeared to have fallen prey of the much younger Lee, going down 3-15, 4-15.

"Lee played a marvelous match today. I did my best, did all I could," Hendrawan said.

Another defeat was also suffered in men's doubles during the semifinals as Halim Heryanto and Tri Kusheryanto were beaten 15- 17, 8-15 by Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas of Thailand. The Indonesian pair will get the bronze medal.

The Thai will then challenge host pair of Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-soo. The South Koreans defeated Malaysians Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng 17-16, 15-12.

"We failed. What else can I say," doubles coach Herry Imam Pierngadi told reporters.

"This defeat sent a warning that we absolutely need to start getting more serious about developing younger talent," he urged.

"If we win all the time we will not know our own weaknesses. But, we must give our young players more chances to take part at more events abroad," he said.