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.