Taufik back on top form at Japan Open
Taufik back on top form at Japan Open
Agence France-Presse, Tokyo
Indonesian star Taufik Hidayat was back on court and in winning form Wednesday after a break of almost seven months, clearing the first hurdle at the Japan Open badminton tournament.
After ending a long-running dispute with the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), the 2000 Asian champion chalked up an 8-6, 0-7, 7-2, 7-0 victory over James Chua of Malaysia.
Countryman and former world champion Hendrawan also cruised to the second round with a 7-5, 7-2, 7-4 win over local hopeful Yosuke Nakanishi.
Defending champion Roslin Muhammad Hashim of Malaysia and last year's All England champion Pulella Gopichand of India also joined Taufik in the second round.
Hashim, unseeded here, brushed aside Japan's Hosemari Fujimoto 7-4, 3-6, 7-4, 7-3, while joint ninth seed Gopichand breezed past Lai Kuan-hung of Taiwan 7-4, 7-3, 8-6.
"This is the first tournament since the Singapore Open and this is also the first time I took part in the Japan Open. I'm happy about it," said Taufik.
"Maybe I'm not in my best form right now, but I will be at the Thomas Cup next month," added the 20-year-old, who showed off an amazing backhand shot behind his body to win a rally during the 33-minute match.
He will meet ninth seed Shon Seung-Mo of South Korea, the runner-up at the Korea Open last weekend, who downed Japan's Yuichi Ikeda 8-6, 6-8, 7-2, 3-7, 7-0.
Hendrawan looks set for a tight game against Gopichand.
Hashim faced a challenge "a little bit tougher" than he had expected and lost the second game, but strongly took the following two games to finish off the 47-minute match.
"In the second game, my anticipation was not good enough, because it was a bit windy over the court," said Hashim, the South East Asian Games gold medalist last year.
Gopichand had no trouble, staying on the court for only 24 minutes.
"It was not very tough, but I think it was a bit difficult to get used to the court and I have a tough match in the next round. Hopefully I can win again," said Gopichand.
"There are a lot of good players in the world, a lot of young players are doing very well, so it's very tough to be number one. But I'm always trying to do my best," he added.
Hashim will play Park Tae-Sang of South Korea, who defeated Stefano Infantino of Italy 7-0, 7-1, 7-5.
Japan's ace Keita Masuda caused the first upset by beating ninth seed Lee Tsuen Seng of Malaysia 7-4, 7-0, 7-1, while other joint ninth seeds Chen Yu of China, Agus Hariyanto of Hong Kong, Sairul Amar Ayob of Malaysia safely went through.
Seven players have all been jointly seeded at ninth for the competition.