Olympic bronze medalists ousted at U.S. Open
Olympic bronze medalists ousted at U.S. Open
ORANGE, California (Agencies): Olympic men's doubles bronze
medalists and top seeds Denny Kantono and Antonius Irianto,
crashed to the makeshift partnership of Chandra Wijaya and Sigit
in Friday's all-Indonesian semifinal at the U.S. Open badminton
championships.
Chandra and Sigit, who usually play with other partners and
are unranked as a pair internationally, produced the biggest
upset of the day with a come-from-behind 9-15, 15-10, 15-6 at the
Orange County Badminton Club.
They will now play Malaysia's seasoned team of Cheah Soon Kit
and Yap Kim Hock, ranked third in the world. The 1996 Olympic
silver medalists beat South Korea's Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon
also in rubber sets 15-6, 9-15, 15-12.
Chandra and Sigit took control in their third game by building
a 7-0 lead. Denny and Antonius failed to score on their first
four serves of that game.
Elsewhere, Indonesia's top seeded Mia Audina moved a step
closer to her first career tournament title when she outgunned
Canada's Denyse Julien 11-5, 11-0 in the women's singles
semifinal.
Olympic silver medalist Mia, ranked fourth in the world, will
meet Denmark's Camilla Martin in an Olympic quarterfinal replay.
Second seeded Martin beat Indonesia's Meiluawati 11-4, 10-12, 11-
3.
Mia relied on an aggressive style and a devastating cross-
court drop shot to dominate Julien. In the second game, Audina
scored 10 consecutive points on her first service, with most of
the points coming off cross-court drops and smashes.
Two of the world's top three male players will clash for the
men's singles championship when Indonesia's top seeded Joko
Suprianto, who heads the world rankings, plays Denmark's second
seeded, third-ranked Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen.
Indonesian Open winner Joko beat former teammate who now plays
for Taiwan, Fung Permadi, 15-6, 15-8 and Olympic champion Hoyer-
Larsen defeated Olympic bronze medalist Malaysia's Rashid Sidek
15-13, 15-3.
Joko and Hoyer-Larsen last met in the Thomas Cup final in Hong
Kong in May, with the Indonesian coming out the winner.