Junior Sony defeats Taufik to grab badminton title

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Junior shuttler Sony Dwi Kuncoro upset world number three Taufik Hidayat as the country's prodigies training at the Cipayung, East Jakarta-based Indonesian Badminton Center (PBI) completed a clean sweep at the 2001 National Badminton Individual Championships.

Taufik, who resigned from the center last month, got off to a perfect start by leaving Sony pointless in the first set, but the junior player fought back gamely to dominate the rest of the match for a deserved 0-7, 7-4, 7-4, 7-2 win.

Smarting from the first-set drubbing, Sony stepped up the pace in the second set to go 3-0 lead. Taufik reduced the gap at 5-4 but Sony locked Taufik to his own court to gain the equalizing set.

The third game was tighter with Taufik taking a 4-3 halfway lead only to let Sony take the initiative and win the set.

Taufik was totally let down in the fourth, allowing Sony to win five straight points in a quite easy manner. The world-class player appeared to regain his form when he won two points 5-2 but it was short-lived. Sony finished Taufik's challenge with an unanswered overhead shot.

"I was relaxed because I didn't think much of winning. I just did my best," Sony told reporters after the match.

"However, my victory today has boosted my confidence as well as my tournament experience," he added.

Sony admitted he was not prepared to counter Taufik's style in the first game when he lost 0-7.

"Taufik is an attack-minded player but I wasn't prepared enough in the first game. Generally, however, I was satisfied with how I played today," he said.

The win kept intact Sony's superior head-to-head record over Taufik, who lost many of the trial matches played at the badminton center.

Earlier in the day, the country's second string player, Atu Rosalina, defeated her junior training mate, Dian Novita, 8-6, 7- 4, 7-0 for the women's singles title.

Later in the evening, Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto labored to grab the men's doubles title, beating training mates Bambang Suprianto and Nova Widhianto 7-1, 7-3, 1-7, 4-7, 7-1.

Two other matches, women's and mixed doubles, were decided without the finalists hitting the shuttlecock after Emma Ermawaty, who should have played both games, withdrew due to injury.

Emma, who teamed up with Eny Widiowati, gave Vita Marissa and Minarti Timur the women's doubles title. In mixed doubles, Emma and team-mate Bambang handed the title to Tri Kusheryanto and Vita.

In the junior division, Holvy de Pouw of Central Java defeated teammate Irawan 7-4, 3-7, 7-5, 3-7, 7-0 to grab the boy's singles title while Maria Kristin, also from Central Java, beat host Firdasari 8-6, 7-4, 7-0 to clinch the girls' singles title.

In the boy's doubles, Hendra and Joko of Jakarta did not find it too difficult to grab the title with their 7-3, 7-2, 7-2 victory over Ruben and Billi of Central Java. The host girl's pair of Lilyana and Nathalia also won the title for Jakarta after crushing the Central Java pairing of Purwati and Irene 7-2, 7-1, 7-0.

Jakarta's domination in the doubles events started earlier when the pair of Hendra and Gresyia claimed the mixed doubles title in a dramatic match. They lost the first two games before defeating teammates Davin and Andriani 3-7, 4-7 7-3, 7-3, 7-3.