Silvi beats Ling to move closer to Asia championship
Zakki Hakim The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Silvi Antarini, who has been hailed as Indonesia's future badminton hope, moved a step closer to becoming Asian champion after beating Ling Wan Ting of Hong Kong in the semifinals of the JVC Asian Badminton Championships in Jakarta on Saturday.
Silvi's march to the finals was followed by her compatriots who set up an all-Indonesia finals in the men's singles and mixed doubles.
Defending champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro will face favorite Taufik Hidayat in the men's singles, a repeat match from last year's finals in Bangkok.
Nova Widianto/Vita Marissa will fight Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati for the mixed doubles trophy. The Sunday's game will start at 12:00 a.m.
However, Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto failed to make it in the men's doubles as they went down to Lee Dong-soo/Yoo Yong-Sung 15-7, 15-4.
The Korean pair will face Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan, who upset their senior players Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian 13-15, 15-11, 7-15.
The day's show appeared to belong to Silvi, who has become the home spectators' and country's hope to break the title drought in the women's competition since the retirement of Susi Susanti.
Before a sparse crowd inside the Bung Karno Indoor Tennis Stadium, Silvi smoothly charged the fighting Ling throughout the game to run a 11-9, 11-1 winner.
The 19-year old Indonesian was in her full swing right from the start. With a clever combination of long drives and crossing smashes, she raced ahead to 10-5 lead in the first set.
However, Ling was able close the gap, thanks to her cunning play by the net, which recurrently caught Silvi flatfooted.
Silvi refused to sit back. Holding a service, she did not squander her chance to grab the opening set after she forced Ling to struggle in a return, which resulted in the latter's shuttlecock flopping onto the net.
The second set proved to give Silvi little trouble, as she upped her game to thump her opponent 11-1.
"It proved a risk allowing her to play at the net. Ling is actually a good net player, but I spotted her defect in the left net area. And I took advantage of that," Silvi told reporters after the match.
Silvi complained about the air conditioning system, which she said affected at times the flight of the shuttlecocks.
In the finals, Silvi will face top seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong, a semifinal winner over Chinese Dai Yun 11-1, 2-11, 11-9.
Indonesian coach Ivanna Lie hoped that Silvi would recover from her fatigue over the night.
Ivanna said that to overcome Wang's low and sharp shots, Silvi would need to build her stamina and flexible muscles to counter them with long rallies. That kind of play, she added, would usually frustrate Wang into making unforced errors.
"Sunday's final will depend on how quick Silvi can recover her fitness," she said.
Meanwhile, in the Indonesia-Hong Kong semifinal battle, Sony stopped Agus Haryanto 15-7 15-8, while Taufik edged out Ng Wei 15-5 15-5.
Anggun/Eny beat Kim Yong-hyun/Lee Hyo-jung of Korea 15-13, 15- 8 and Nova/Vita defeated Liu Kwok Wa/Koon Wai Chee of Hong Kong 15-6, 7-15, 15-5 in the semifinals.
It will be their fourth meeting. Sony won three times with the last win earning him the Asia championship with a 15-13, 15-5 victory in 2002.