Sony, Simon exit HK

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Asian champions Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso failed to march to the semifinals of the US$250,000 Hong Kong Open badminton championships after losing in their Indonesia-China quarterfinal matches at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong on Friday.

After giving up in the first in his match against Lin Dan, Sony, who was fresh from his success in defending the Asian championship in Jakarta, recovered to win the second set only to be brought back to earth to lose out 5-15, 15-3, 1-15, according to www.worldbadminton.net.

Simon, who had taken big scalps in the form of South Korea's Shon Seung-mo and Denmark's Peter Gade en route to the quarterfinals, went down 5-15, 8-15 to Bao Chunlai.

Sony and Simon were the last Indonesian singles' players to exit with Taufik Hidayat, Rony Agustinus, Budi Santoso and Wimpie Mahardi already having packed their bags for home.

Indonesia has also come to a dead-end in the women's singles with Silvi Antarini, who was the Asian runner-up, losing to Gong Ruina of China on Thursday.

Indonesia's woes were coupled with its failures in the mixed doubles event. Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati and Bambang Suprianto/Emma Ermawati were all dominated by their opponents.

Asian runners-up Anggun/Eny found Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min too strong for them.

The Korean pair, who are seeking their eighth title this year, thumped the Indonesians 15-3, 15-8. The world's number one will now meet Jonas Rasmussen/Rikke Olsen of Denmark in the semifinals.

Bambang/Emma posed a serious challenge to Zhang Jun/Gao Ling of China only in the second set before they crashed out 1-15, 12- 15.

Tri Kusharjanto/Sigit Budiarto were still playing against Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun, to whom the Indonesians are 0-2 behind in their previous meetings.