Luluk/Alvent advanced to Malaysia Open finals
Luluk/Alvent advanced to Malaysia Open finals
Eva C. Komandjaja
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Fifth seeded pair Luluk Hadiyanto/Alvent Yulianto became
Indonesia's only hope at the 2004 Malaysia Open badminton
championships after they had secured a place in the men's double
final round on Saturday.
Luluk/Alvent grabbed a ticket to final round after defeating
Danish Duo Thomas Laybourn/Peter Steffensen 13-15, 15-5, 15-10 in
a semifinal match on Saturday afternoon.
The Indonesian pair path to victory will not be easy since
they will be challenged by Malaysian top doubles Choong Tan
Fuk/Lee Wan Wah in final round.
Meanwhile, another Indonesian pair in mixed doubles Nova
Widianto/Vita Marissa could not have a similar result with their
compatriots after losing 11-15, 8-15 to first seeded Chinese pair
Zhang Jun/Gao Ling.
In men's singles, South Korean rising star Park Sung-hwan
defeated world number one shuttler Lin Dan in the quarterfinals
of the 2004 Malaysia Open held in Kuantan late on Friday night.
The Olympic gold medal hopeful Lin Dan, who has been virtually
unbeatable over the past nine months, finally collapsed 15-12,
15-5.
The 20-year-old former Asian Junior champion Park deserves all
the credit for ending Lin Dan's run, and gave scant respect to
the ability of a player who has dominated the world badminton
scene, winning five tournaments since September last year.
Park will next take on world champion Xia Xuanze in his first
semifinal appearance in a top-level tournament.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Malaysia's only hope Lee Chong Wei
secured his place in the men's singles final round after
defeating second seeded China shuttler Chen Hong in three games
15-8, 5-15, 15-6.
In the women's singles, top seed Gong Ruina defeated South
Korea's Jun Jae Youn 11-5, 11-1 to set up a semifinal clash
against world number three Zhou Mi, who defeated compatriot Xie
Xingfang 11-1, 11-8.
Another surprise came in women's singles division after new
French citizen Pi Hongyan sent Holland's Mia Audina Tjiptawan
packing 5-11, 11-5, 11-2. Pi will take on world number two Zhang
Ning in the semifinals after the Chinese trashed Denmark's
Camilla Martin 11-0, 11-3.