Silvi outplays Ling to move closer to Asia championship
Silvi outplays 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.