Shuttler Joko leads Indonesia's march for medals

Shuttler Joko leads Indonesia's march for medals

ATLANTA, Georgia (Agencies): Joko Suprianto, top seed in the men's singles badminton competition, enjoyed the lightest of warm-ups in his debut at the Olympic Games on Thursday.

The 30-year-old Surakarta-based player erased his bitter memory of being denied a place in the Indonesian team four years ago with an easy 15-1, 15-5 second-round win over Pontus Jantti of Finland.

Defending Olympic champion Alan Budikusuma and world champion Hariyanto Arbi completed Indonesia's brisk start with comfortable victories to cruise through the third round.

All the top eight seeds here received first-round byes.

Joko could have faced a tricky test in Jantti, who already has the Scottish Open title to his credit and has since been living and training in Malaysia to try and further improve his standard.

But this was a spectacular no contest, with Joko hardly ever hitting the shuttle hard, flicking, switching and whipping it from corner to corner or pushing it deftly tight to the net, and the first 14 points came his way before Jantti could score.

When he did so it only briefly alleviated the Finn's growing tension for the best he could subsequently do was to make a mini- revival from 2-7 to 4-7 in the second game before the invasion of velvety strokes engulfed him again.

"I'm very happy that the first match was so easy for me to handle," smiled Joko. "It has been like a warm-up. If I get through to the quarterfinals I could have a very competitive match with Rashid Sidek." Malaysian Sidek was a 15-11, 15-7 first-round winner over Andrei Antropov of Russia.

Surprisingly, after such a well-oiled performance Joko did not regard himself as the favorite.

"There is no favorite. Everyone wants the same thing and is fighting for the same thing," he said. He did identify fellow Indonesian Hariyanto and the new world number one Dong Jiong of China as possible major obstacles en route to the final.

Third seed Hariyanto also won quickly, starting with a 15-5, 15-4 victory over the Indian champion Deepankar Bhattacharya, while Alan thrashed Thomas Johansson of Sweden 15-5 15-1.

Poul-Erik Hoyer, the second-seeded All-England champion from Denmark, also started well, although there were one or two lapses in concentration as he won 15-7, 15-6 against the Ukrainian Vladislav Druzchenko.

Revenge

"I am here for revenge," the 30-year-old Dane said after the match. "There is no one else in Europe who is in a position to do it."

Hoyer-Larsen lost to another Indonesian, Ardy Wiranata, in the quarterfinals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. There will be no real retaliation, however, as silver medalist Ardy failed to qualify for Atlanta.

Meanwhile, some players complained about having trouble with air currents in the hall, caused by the air-conditioning system. Jantii said there was a big drift across the court. "Even though I knew about it, it confused me a little," he said.

Denmark's Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen said it was difficult to control the shuttle. "Today was a nightmare," he said. "They've changed the air-conditioning so the conditions keep changing."

The only surprise in the day's first two sessions came in the men's doubles in which the fifth seeded Swedes Par-Gunnar Jonsson and Peter Axelsson were beaten by the improving Germans Michael Keck and Michael Helber 15-8, 15-13.