RI boys assured of berth in Milo finals

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Medan, North Sumatra

Indonesia was assured of a place in the boys' final after five players managed to advance to the quarterfinals at the US$11,000 Milo Junior Indonesia Open badminton championships here on Thursday.

The home teenagers were through at the expense of their Chinese and South Korean opponents with Achmad Rivai setting up the biggest shock of the day.

The Jaya Raya player overcame a second-game letup to upset third seed Lee Cheol-ho of Korea 15-9, 6-15, 15-13.

The victory followed earlier success by club mate Ali Rasmara, who edged out China's fifth seed Lu Qicheng 15-13, 15-12.

Other local players advancing to the quarterfinals were second seed Tommy Sugiarto of Pelita Top One, fifth seed Haryo Putro Wisnu of Djarum Kudus, and Kesuma S of Suryanaga Gudang Garam Kediri.

Tommy chalked up an easy 15-5, 15-0 win over Malaysian Chan Kwong Beng. Wisnu defeated his fellow club member Agung Susilo 15-10, 15-6 while Kesuma rallied to send home Korean Choi Sang- won 14-17, 15-13, 15-6.

China, which has come to the tournament in the wake of its high-flying performance at the Asian junior championships, now banks its boys' singles hope on top seed Gong Wei Jie.

Gong had come from a game down to defeat M Ahsan of Suryanaga Gudang Garam 16-17, 15-2, 15-3.

The other two quarterfinal sports were booked by Koreans courtesy of Lee Yong-dae, a 15-2-15-2 winner over Singaporean Chew Swee Hau and Hong Ji-hoon, winner over Ahmad Fauzi of Suryanaga Gudang Garam 15-7, 15-11.

However, the two will have to battle each other for a place in the semifinals.

Gong will tackle Kesuma while the other two quarterfinal ties will pit Wisnu against Achmad and Tommy against Ali.

The All-Indonesia quarterfinal will ensure an all-Indonesia semifinal, thus assuring a berth in the final.

Mass exit by Chinese contenders has left Gong with the arduous task of winning the boys' title and dealt a blow to team manager Jiang Zhaojing, who had earlier been optimistic about his proteges' prospects.

While putting in a dominant performance in the boys' singles, the hosts had to be content with only two quarterfinal berths in the girls' singles competition.

Visiting shuttlers dominated the field with Chinese players taking three places through top seed Lu Lan, fifth seed Wang Lin and Wang Yihan.

Korea grabbed two places courtesy of second seed Ha Jeung-un and unseeded Lee Hyun-jin, and Singapore had hopes one Xing Aying.

Third seed Francisca Ratnasari and fifth seed Christina Maria Elfira of Djarum Kudus.

Christina had an easy job in defeating Lee Jin-Chin 11-5, 11- 2. However, Francisca looked unconvincing in her workout, having been extended to three games before overcoming Pia Zebadiah of Jaya Raya 11-6, 11-13, 11-7.

"Well, my opponent was clever at spotting the holes in my game. But in the third set I just convinced myself I must return all the shuttlecocks if I wanted to win the match," she told The Jakarta Post.

Francisca will face Wang, a 13-10, 11-3 winner over Korean Kim Young-mi, in the quarterfinals.

"I will try to play patiently tomorrow as Wang is a good attacking shuttler," she said.

Lu Lan had no difficulties in brushing aside Sandrawati Wijaya of Indonesia 11-4, 11-3, while Ha Jeung-un was made to try a little bit harder, stopping Malaysian Julia Wong 11-7, 11-7.