RI books final berth in men's doubles in Korea
RI books final berth in men's doubles in Korea
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has earned a place in the men's
doubles semifinal and mixed doubles final in the 2000 Samsung
Korea Open at Hanra gymnasium in Cheju island, South Korea.
The veteran pair of Ricky Ahmad Subagja and Rexy Mainaky
proved they can still be dangerous to their juniors, following a
draining 12-15, 15-11, 15-6 victory over senior Danish pair of
Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen in the quarterfinals on Friday.
In the semifinal on Saturday, Ricky and Rexy, who were the
1996 Olympic Games' gold medalists, will meet junior countrymen
Flandi Limpele and Eng Hian. Flandi and Eng Hian easily defeated
the Malaysian pair of Chan Chong Ming and Jeremy Gan 15-13, 15-4.
Another Indonesian pair, Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan,
extinguished Malaysia's hope of the men's double title in the
US$250,000 six-star event after they managed to overcome Rosman
A. Razak and Chew Choon Eng 15-6, 15-6.
Candra and Tony will challenge host pair Lee Dong-soo and Yoo
Yong-sung.
The success story was extended in the mixed doubles event with
the Indonesian long-time partnering of Tri Kusharyanto and
Minarti Timur. They cruised to the final after defeating Chris
Bruil and Erica Van den Heuvel from the Netherlands 15-10, 15-11
on Thursday.
On Saturday they will face the world runners-up from the host
country, Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min, who ousted Danish pair
Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen on Friday.
Team manager Hery I. Pierngadi said Tri and Minarti would face
a tough challenge from the South Koreans.
"Tri and Minarti have not won against the South Koreans and
Kim and Ra will enjoy support from the locals. But I hope that
our players can win at least one set, because they have never won
in more than two sets against Kim and Ra," he said.
Hery, who is also the men's doubles coach, said that Candra
and Tony would find it easy to beat the South Korean pair, given
their long winning record against Lee and Yoo in their previous
meets.
However, he said, Candra and Tony should be aware of bias
officiating by the Koreans.
"Candra and Tony have a long record of winning against Lee and
Yoo. But we are now playing in South Korea, so they have to be
careful of the bias judging from the host officials. The referees
often call our players' services as faults," he said.
He recalled that Ricky and Rexy had a very tough game after
they lost the first set. However, they benefited from their
experiences and changed their strategy in the second set.
"The Danish pair continuously attacked Ricky during the first
set and gained points to claim the set. But Ricky strengthened
his defense and the pairs intensified their attacks. The game
became very tight, especially when the Danish pair lessened their
deficit to 10-11 in the second set," he said.
Commenting on the semifinal match, Eng Hian expressed hope
that he and Flandi could overcome Ricky and Rexy to retain their
title.
"We really want to win. We are ready to face Ricky and Rexy.
We won the title last year, beating Eriksen and Larsen in the
final," he said.
The ladies side has to come home empty handed after the
remaining ladies doubles pair of Etty Tantri and Cynthia
Tuwankotta bowed out 9-15, 15-14, 13-15 to Ann Jorgensen and
Majken Vange of Denmark in the women's doubles final on Friday.
(ivy)