Taufik to face Simon in badminton final match
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Palembang
Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat finally seems to be hitting his stride. After losing twice in the team matches, On Wednesday defeated North Sumatra's Wimpie Mahardi in the men's singles semifinals at the Dempo Badminton Hall.
It was revenge for Taufik, who lost 11-15, 15-17 to Wimpie in the opening round of the team event last week. Taufik was in winning form this time around, defeating Wimpie 15-10, 15-10.
However, it was a tough battle for Taufik, who won the Olympic gold medal for Indonesia in Athens.
The world's No. 4 had to deal with Wimpie's hard smashes and often made mistakes in front of the net due to his nervousness. His frustration was palpable when he deliberately aimed his smashes to Wimpie's body and head several times. Wimpie is ranked only 131st in the world.
Bearing a heavy burden of having to win a gold medal for West Java, Taufik was disbelief -- many times shaking his head -- every time Wimpie's shots landed on his side.
The spectators were mixed in their favorites during the action. Although the home crowd was shouting in support for Taufik, they clapped their hands every time Wimpie made an excellent shot in the game.
After more than one and a half hours of play, Taufik finally closed the game with a hard smash to the right side of the court and booked himself a ticket to the final where he will meet a young and talented shuttler Simon Santoso of Jakarta.
Simon advanced to the final with a 15-13, 15-10 win over more experienced Marleve Mainaky of West Java.
Despite his experience, the 32-year-old Marleve could not display his best, as he did when defeating Athens Olympic bronze medalist Sony Dwi Kuncoro on Tuesday.
Simon looked in charge almost from the start with Marleve seemingly having no impetus to counter. Simon forced long rallies before finishing the with sudden and punishing smashes.
Talking about his chance in playing against his gold medalist Taufik Hidayat in the final, Simon said he would give it his all because he had nothing to lose.
"I will be striving to play the best I can in the match and I have nothing to lose," Simon told The Jakarta Post after the match.
In the women's singles semifinal match, Jakarta's Silvi Antarini chalked up an easy 11-3, 11-2 win over Nitya Krishinda of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam while in other court, Linda Djaelawidjaja of West Java suffered a 6-11, 11-6, 3-11 loss to East Java's Dewi Tira.
Silvi will play against Dewi in the final on Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles event, newly paired Flandy Limpele and Lita Nurlita of West Java overcame Jakarta's Candra Wijaya and Jo Novita in 15-6, 15-12 match.
Never playing in mixed doubles before, the two pairs seemed to be a little awkward and suffered from lack of coordination in the game as they often clashed with each other on return shots.
However, left-handed Flandy could support Lita with his unpredictable shots aimed at Jo Novita, and sealed victory for West Java.
In the other semifinals, Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa of Jakarta denied an all-West Java final by beating Alven Yulianto and Yunita 15-12, 17-15.
"This is my first time playing mixed doubles and they (Nova/Vita) are specialized in mixed doubles so I guess my chance is really small but I will try my best," Flandy said about his final.