Mia survives scare to reach quarterfinals

Mia survives scare to reach quarterfinals

ATLANTA, Georgia (Agencies): Indonesia's badminton prodigy Mia
Audina might defy the bombing which has haunted the Atlanta
Olympic Games since Saturday, but she needed a little luck to
survive her third-round match to reach the quarterfinals.

The 17-year-old women's singles player, who is regarded as a
potential successor to her legendary compatriot Susi Susanti, had
to use survival instincts to overcome the surprise qualifier
Kelly Morgan of Britain 11-2, 4-11, 12-9.

Morgan stretched her eighth seed opponent to the limit with a
brilliant fight back, only to waste a chance to produce another
upset.

At 9-8 up in the decider, the Welsh player served wide in her
first attempt to reach match point. She put an overhead drop too
high to miss her second chance.

Mia was quick exploit these mistakes. At 9-9, she kept the
pace fast and was mentally tougher when it mattered. The heroine
of Indonesia's last two Uber Cups prevailed.

"I had a chance but it was mistakes which lost it for me,"
said Morgan after the match.

Mia will play the European champion from Denmark, Camilla
Martin, who also had a more difficult game than expected. She
needed to save a game point before winning 12-11, 11-9 against
little-known Huang Chia-chi of Hong Kong.

"We stand an equal chance, because we have beaten each other,"
Mia said. The two players have won two games each out of their
previous encounters, with Martin winning the last time they met
at the German Open final last March.

Mia and defending champion Susi are Indonesia's final hopes in
the women's singles after Yuliani Sentosa fell 5-11, 6-11 to
Chinese youngster Yao Yan.

Devastating

The three top seeds in the competition have been devastating.

Second seed Susi needed only 16 minutes to beat Katarzyna
Krakowska of Poland 11-4, 11-0. The top seed, world champion from
China, Ye Zhaoying, also took 16 minutes to overwhelm Sweden's
Margit Borg 11-4, 11-4, and the All-England Champion from South
Korea, Bang Soo-hyun, required just 18 minutes to get past Yasuko
Mizui of Japan 11-2,11-3.

Susanti's quarterfinal match against Han Jingna, the world
silver medalist from China, should take place at the same time as
her fiancee Alan Budikusuma's match on an adjacent court.

Alan, the defending men's singles champion, reached the
quarterfinals the previous day. He has a tough task in front of
him against the second seed, All-England champion from Denmark,
Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen. It will be harder still if he does not
keep his eyes and thoughts on his own court.

Indonesia received a big blow in the doubles events when
former world top women's pair, Lili Tampi and Finarsih, and the
1994 All England men's doubles winners, Rudy Gunawan and Bambang
Supriyanto, were eliminated.

Lili and Finarsih fought hard before losing 1-15, 15-4, 6-15
to younger opponents, Tang Yongshu and Qin Yiyuan, from China.
But Indonesia still contends the event because joint fifth seeds
Eliza and Zelin Resiana beat Tammy Jenkins and Rhona Robertson of
New Zealand 15-9, 15-2 to reach the quarterfinals.

Bambang and Gunawan fell awkwardly 13-18, 15-4, 6-15 to the
Malaysian duo Soo Beng Kiang and Tan Kim Her. The Indonesians got
off to a flying start with a 13-10 lead, but then error-ridden
play cost them the first set.

The other two Indonesian men's pairs overcame tough opposition
from Danish rivals en route to the quarterfinals. World champions
Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky blew away Michael Sogaard and
Henrik Svarrer 15-10, 15-7. Antonius Irianto and Denny Kantono
ousted Jens Eriksen and Christian Jakobsen 15-8, 15-12.