Taufik streak continues, RI garners two titles
Taufik streak continues, RI garners two titles
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Defending champion Taufik Hidayat once again showed his
mastery over China's Chen Hong to give one of two titles to the
host nation at the Djarum Indonesia Open badminton championship
here on Sunday.
Taufik, who was seeded fourth, outclassed third seed Chen 15-
10, 15-11, in the final match before a capacity crowd of 4,000 at
the Bung Karno Tennis Indoor stadium.
It was Taufik's third win in a row in the tournament finals,
following his victories in Surabaya 2002 and Batam 2003. The
victory also means that he has extended his winning streak over
Hong to six.
Luluk Hadiyanto and Alven Yulianto won their men's doubles
final over top seeds Fu Haifeng/Cai Yun 15-8, 15-11 to earn the
hosts the other gold, but China still showed its dominance by
grabbing the remaining three titles on offer.
It was Taufik's fifth title in the Indonesia Open, and the 23-
year-old said that he would look forward to more in a bid to
break Ardy B. Wiranata's run of six titles.
"I have been motivated by a desire to break Ardy's record in
the Indonesia Open," said Taufik, who won in 1999, 2000, 2002 and
2003. Ardy triumphed in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1997.
Taufik showed his control over Chen by leading in the fight
for points almost from the start.
It was an entertaining match with a series of rallies, cunning
flicks over the net and cutting drives before one ended the play
with a devastating smash.
After he was caught at 4-4, Taufik built an 8-5 lead to send
the spectators into a frenzy of anticipation of a victory.
But Chen managed to establish his rhythm and overtook Taufik
as the latter conceded a string of unforced errors.
Taufik quickly regained his composure to tie at 10-10, this
time Chen committing his own errors. As Chen was still
struggling, Taufik did not squander the opportunity to collect
four points in a row.
After allowing one service over, Taufik sealed the opening set
15-10 after Chen's backhand shot fell short.
Taufik pulled clear to a 4-0 lead in the early stages of the
second game. The following course looked reminiscent of the
opening game when he led 8-5 only to let Chen mount an attack to
tie it at 11-11.
But it appeared over for Chen as Taufik did not give him any
opportunity to establish his game.
Meanwhile, despite their status as top seeds in the men's
doubles, Alven and Luluk entered the final as underdogs because
of their inferior record against Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.
But they beat the odds to score their second win in six
meetings.
In early action, second seed Xie Xingfang of China beat
unheralded Eriko Hirose 11-8, 11-0 of Japan to win her second
Indonesia Open women's singles.
In the mixed doubles final, Zhang Jun/Gao Ling overcame fourth
seeds Robert Blair/Natalie Munt of England 15-9, 15-9 while in
the last final of the evening saw top seeds Yang We/Zhang Jiewen
overcome their compatriots and third seeds Zhang Dan/Zhang Yawen
15-10, 15-10.