Soni knocks out top-seeded Wei to enter men's final
Soni knocks out top-seeded Wei to enter men's final
Associated Press
Hyderabad, India
Two-time champion Soni Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia upset top
ranked Wei Ng of Hong Kong 15-3, 15-11 on Saturday for reach the
men's singles final at the Asian Badminton Championship.
The seventh seed, Asian title winner in 2002 and 2003, will
play second-seeded Kuan Beng Hong in Sunday's final after the
Malaysian saw off third-seeded South Korean Lee Hyun-il 15-11,
15-4.
Women's singles top seed Chen Wang brought smiles back to the
Hong Kong squad as she cruised past sixth-seeded Cheng Shao-chieh
of Taiwan 11-8, 11-2 to enter the final.
Chen's title contest will be against third-seeded Kaori Mori
of Japan, who defeated second-seeded compatriot Hirose Eriko 11-
5, 5-11, 13-10 in the other semifinal.
Soni banked on his sound defense to ward off the attacking
Wei, using his accurate strokes to sprint to a 7-0 lead. Wei
could do little as the Indonesian grabbed seven more consecutive
points to clinch the opening game.
In the second game, Soni recovered from a 4-5 deficit to take
a 12-5 lead before the top-seeded Wei waged a late rally. Wei
narrowed the gap to 11-12, but could not stop his opponent from
securing passage into the title round.
"I was confident of doing well against Wei and anticipated his
shots well," said Soni, 21. "But he dramatically increased the
pace in the second game. That confused me for a while before I
adjusted to it."
Soni also upset fourth seeded Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, the
player he beat for the Olympic bronze medal in Athens, to storm
in the last eight on Friday night.
He fought back after dropping the first game to stun the Thai
number one 11-15, 15-4, 15-11.
In the men's doubles, second seeded Markis Kido and Hendra
Setiawan of Indonesia came through two close 15-13 games oer
second fourth seeded Tan Bin Shen and Ong Soon Hock of Malaysia.
However, top seeded South Koreans Lee Jae-jin and Jung Jae-
sung stopped an all-Indonesian final by overcoming eight seeded
Hendra Gunawan and Joko Riyadi.
In the women's doubles, both Indonesian pairs lost.
Lee Kyung-won and Lee Hyo-jung, the top seeds from, South Korea,
romped past Lita Nurlita and Natalia Poluakan 15-5, 15-12.
Japan's third seeded Kumako Ogura and Reiko Shiota defeated Jo
Novita and Greysia Polii, Indonesia, 15-10, 15-4.