Marlev improves play to win at Swiss Open
Marlev improves play to win at Swiss Open
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Marlev Mainaky of Indonesia took five sets to overcome Ng Wei of
Hong Kong in the semifinals of the Swiss Open at Basel's St.
Jakobshalle on Saturday.
Marlev, whose All England bid crashed in the second round, won
2-7, 2-7, 7-4, 7-1, 7-0, according to www.worldbadminton.net.
But Rony Agustinus, also putting in a mediocre performance at
All England, failed to make it an all-Indonesian men's final
after he was stopped by James Chua of Malaysia 8-7, 7-8, 7-2, 7-3
in the other semifinal.
Indonesia's hopes for a gold medal were further dashed when
Bambang Suprianto and Sigit Budiarto went down to Lee Dong-soo
and Yoo Yong-sung of South Korea in the men's doubles 7-3, 7-1,
8-6.
Lee and Yoo will challenge the European doubles pairing of
Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen. The Danes lost the
opening set before fighting back for a 5-7, 7-4, 8-7, 7-4 victory
over Liu Kwok Wa and Albertus Susanto Njoto who represented Hong
Kong.
Marlev is looking to make amends for his failure in England,
in which Indonesia was denied a single title at the
world's oldest badminton tournament.
The women's singles final will pit Zeng Yaqiong of China
against Mia Audina, a former Indonesian star who now plays for
the Netherlands.
Zeng beat Mia's compatriot Yao Jie 6-8, 7-5, 7-4, 7-4, while
Mia took her place in the finals at the expense of Kanako
Yonekura of Japan with a 7-1, 7-5, 7-5 win.
The Asian-European rivalries have appeared to expand to the
other fields as the mixed Britain-Netherlands pairing of Gail
Emms and Lotte Jonathans will face Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won
of Malaysia in the women's doubles. Jonas Rasmussen and Jane
Bramsen of Denmark will take on Koreans Kim Dong-moon and Ra
Kyung-min in the mixed doubles.
Emms/Jonathans beat Japanese Shizuka Yamamoto and Seiko Yamada
of 7-5. 7-1, 7-0 while Ra and Lee defeated Danes Pernille Harder
and Mette Schjoldager 7-2, 7-2, 7-2.
Rasmussen and Bramsen won over Chris Bruil and Lotte Jonathans
7-3, 7-2, 3-7, 7-4 while Kim and Ra whipped British hopefuls
Anthony Clark and Sara Sankey 7-1, 7-2, 7-0.