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)