Lin Dan shows Taufik the door in first career encounter
Lin Dan shows Taufik the door in first career encounter
JAKARTA (JP): Newcomer Lin Dan of China put top seed Taufik
Hidayat's attempt to defend his title at the US$150,000 JVC Asian
Badminton Championships in Manila to an end on Thursday.
World number five Taufik played as if he was a novice against
the left-handed Chinese teenager who used speed and power to
breeze past the Indonesian 15-3, 15-2 in just 29 minutes for a
place in the quarterfinals.
Taufik admitted that he was overwhelmed by his 18-year-old
opponent.
"Lin Dan was playing good while I lost my touch. I could not
concentrate," Taufik told The Jakarta Post from Manila.
"This is our first encounter and I first saw his match at the
Singapore Open. He is actually not as good as the other Chinese
shuttlers I have played with," he added.
Taufik brushed aside speculation that he was exhausted after
winning the Singapore Open last week.
AFP reported that Taufik looked tired during the third-round
match.
"After competing in Singapore, it's hard to remain in peak
condition," the news agency quoted tournament organizer Nelson
Asuncion as saying. "Lin caught Taufik on an off day."
Lin Dan said he was very happy to beat the top seed.
"This was my first meeting with Hidayat and I'm happy that I
beat him," an overjoyed Lin said as reported by AFP.
Meanwhile in the women's singles, Indonesia also lost its
remaining shuttler when second-string shuttler Atu Rosalina
crashed out to a 11-5, 11-2 defeat in the third-round match
against Chinese Zhang Ning who won last week's Singapore Open.
Top seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong found no difficulties in
reaching the quarterfinals, outclassing Chen Wan Ju of Chinese
Taipei 11-2, 11-1.
Indonesia is keeping its hope of winning the women's doubles
up after its three pairs advanced to the quarterfinals.
Second-stringers Rossi Riani and Diah Novita outclassed Cheh
Yueh Ying and Tsai Chia Chun from Chinese Taipei 15-3, 15-13 to
set up a date with Chinese top seeds Gao Ling and Huang Sui.
Indonesia's other charges Eny Erlangga and Jo Novita defeated
another Chinese Taipei pair of Peng Ju Yu and Ku Pei Ting 15-10,
15-3.
The Indonesian Open winning team of Deyana Lomban and Vita
Marissa, the country's most seasoned pair, fought it out to beat
Lee Kyung-won and Lee Hyo-jun of South Korea 15-7, 13-15, 15-1
and will be challenging second seeds Oniike Megumi and Kaori Mori
from Japan. (nvn)