RI men's doubles move to S. Korea quarters

JAKARTA (JP): Veteran Indonesian men's doubles pair Ricky Ahmad Subagja and Rexy Mainaky upset the world number one pairing of Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon of South Korea 15-10, 17-16 in the second round of the 2000 Samsung Korea Open on Thursday.

Their compatriots Flandi Limpele and Eng Hian beat Peter Axelsson and Par-Gunnar Jonsson of Denmark 15-9, 15-11 and second seeded Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan overcame another Danish pair of Henrik Andersson and Frederik Bergstrom 15-10, 15-10.

However, the new pairing of Sigit Budiarto and Halim lost to host pair of Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung 9-15, 9-15, at Hanra gymnasium in Cheju Island.

Team manager and men's doubles coach Hery I. Pirngadi expressed hope that at least one of the Indonesian men's doubles pairs could book a final berth in the US$250,000 six-star event.

"We have faith in our men's doubles teams. We expect them to reach the final or even make an all-Indonesian final. If all of them can overcome their opponents on Friday, we have a 70 percent chance for the final," he told The Jakarta Post from South Korea.

Ricky/Rexy will challenge Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen, the sixth seeds, while Flandi and Eng Hian will meet unseeded Chan Chong Ming and Jeremy Gan of Malaysia. Candra and Tony will fight another Malaysian pair of Rosman A. Razak and Chew Choon Eng.

In the women's doubles, the junior pair of Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta trounced Nicole Grether and Karen Stechmann of Germany 15-3, 15-4.

But there was humiliation on Thursday for lone Indonesian men's singles player Heryanto Arbi, beaten by unheralded Saman Ismail of Malaysia 7-15, 4-15.

Indonesia lost its only chance in the women's singles when Lidya Djaelawijaya bowed out in the first round on Wednesday to unseeded Hu ting of China 5-11, 4-11.

Indonesia salvaged some pride when its veteran mixed doubles pair of Tri Kusharyanto and Minarti Timur overpowered the host pairs of Lee Dong-soo and Lee Hyo-jung 15-7, 7-15, 15-9 to earn a semifinal berth.

But the Indoensian contingent complained of biased officiating by the Koreans.

Mixed doubles coach Richard Mainaky told the Post that he protested to the referee because he believed the South Korean officials were cheating the Indonesian players.

"The referee's and the linesmen decisions were discouraging Tri and Minarti. They lost their concentration. In the second game, Tri's service was always called a fault and shots which landed in were called out. So, when the South Koreans were ahead 7-5, we protested," he said.

In the semifinal on Friday, Tri and Minarti will face Chris Bruil and Erica Van den Heuvel from the Netherlands, Richard said.

"On paper, Tri and Minarti can win the semifinal, provided they play to their usual form. The tough opponent will be South Korea's world second ranked Kim and Ra Kyung-min, who will play the Danish pair of Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen," he said. (ivy)