Junior Sony defeats Taufik to grab badminton title

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.