Taufik falls to Wong in Denmark

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hopes for another matchup between Taufik Hidayat and Chen Hong, which would have been their sixth meeting, were dashed on Thursday at the badminton Denmark Open when Taufik failed to make it out of the third round.

Taufik of Indonesia lost to Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann 5-15, 12-15, according to www.worldbadminton.com. China's Chen, the defending champion, had a much better result, posting a 15-7, 12- 15, 15-11 victory over local favorite Niels Christian Kaldau.

Taufik, who has been perfect in his five meetings with Chen, was Indonesia's last singles player to exit the US$170,000 tournament.

Rony Agustinus crashed out in the opening round and Sony Dwi Kuncoro, hoping to bounce back after a mediocre showing in the Malaysia Open, lost earlier in the third round.

Wong is one of three men's singles players from Malaysia left in tournament, with Roslin Hashim and Lee Chong Wei also cruising through to the quarterfinals.

Likewise, China still has three men's singles players left: Lin Dan, Chen Yu and Chen Hong. Lin Dan will face Denmark's Peter Gade Christensen in the quarterfinals and Chen Yu will take on South Korea's Shon Seung-mo.

Roslin and Lee will face each other in an all-Malaysian quarterfinal match.

In the men's doubles, Indonesia's Sigit Budiarto and Tri Kusharyanto, playing together as a team for just the second tournament, clearly still have some work to do, falling to the Thai pair of Patapol Ngernsrisuk/Sudket Prapakamol 16-17, 15-13, 15-2.

However, Indonesia has two men's pairs still in the running. Candra Wijaya/Halim Haryanto beat Anthony Clark/Nathan Robertson of England 15-6, 15-5 to book a spot in the quarterfinals against world champions Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark.

And Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian were 15-4, 15-7 winners over Yohan Wiratama/Yau Tsz Yuk of Hong Kong.

Jo Novita/Lita Nurlita, 12-15, 15-13, 15-8 winners over Kamila Agustyn/Nadezhda Kostioutchi of Poland, are the lone Indonesian women's pair remaining after Vita Marissa/Eny Widiowati tumbled out to China's Zhang Dan/Zhang Yawen 12-15, 7-15.