Taufik, Candra/Sigit take S'pore titles
Taufik, Candra/Sigit take S'pore titles
Agencies, Singapore
Taufik Hidayat put on a sparkling display of attacking
badminton to capture his second Singapore Open title with a 15-9
15-3 drubbing of China's Chen Hong on Sunday.
Bandung native Taufik and compatriots Sigit Budiarto and
Candra Wijaya were the only holdouts in the Chinese domination of
the five events in the tournament.
The Indonesian fourth seeded men's doubles pair came back
after losing the first game to defeat Danes Mathias Boe and
Carsten Mogensen 8-15, 15-8, 15-7.
The day belonged to a resurgent eighth seeded Taufik, who is
showing the superb form that brought him the 2004 Athens Olympic
gold.
He followed his stirring semifinal victory over world number
one Lin Dan on Saturday by bullying Chen into submission in 48
minutes.
Rewarded for adopting the more aggressive approach, the 23-
year-old Indonesian surged into an 8-1 lead.
Roared on by a crowd of more than 8,000, Taufik reeled off 14
straight points from 1-3 in the second game to add to the title
he won in 2001 as two-time Singapore Open winner Chen was unable
to cope with the Indonesian, either at the net or from the back
of the court.
"We have met many times before and he has only beaten me once,
I was confident I could beat him," said Taufik, who now holds a
7-1 win-loss record over the Chinese, including three Indonesian
Open final victories.
"I still feel I can improve for the world championships, that
is my target."
In Singapore, Taufik showed he will be a major threat for the
World Championships in Anaheim, California, in mid-August.
After missing the All England championship in March with a
knee injury, he defeated All England winner Chen and his runner-
up Lin, as well as world number three Peter Gade in the last
eight, without losing a game.
"The real final was yesterday," Taufik said in referring to
his 15-12, 15-8 win over Lin. "I am really thankful for the
support from the crowd. My parents also flew in especially for
this final. That made the title more satisfying."
Taufik said he was now aiming for back-to-back wins with
victory at next week's Malaysian Open to raise his world ranking
to as high as number four ahead of the world championships.
In the women's singles, defending champion and world number
two Zhang Ning battled past Chinese compatriot Zhou Mi 11-5 11-7
to secure her fourth title in five years.
In mixed doubles, Olympic gold medalists and second seeds
Zhang Jun and Gao Ling rallied from a game behind to overcome
Thai pair Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam 10-15 15-7
15-5.