Taufik to face Sun Jun in KL's second round

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian teenage idol Taufik Hidayat will face a tough challenge on the opening day of the five-star Proton-Eon Malaysian Open as he might face former world champion Sun Jun of China in the second round Wednesday.

Currently world number three, Taufik -- who just retained his title in the US$150,000 Indonesian Open last month -- is likely to be able to overcome Anuphap Thiraratsakul of Thailand in the first round.

But in the second round later in the evening he will face Sun, whose performance has been in decline since he injured his back in the Asian Badminton Championships in Vietnam last year.

Worldbadminton.net reported that world-ranked 48 Sun was in the list submitted to the International Badminton Federation (IBF) on July 28 instead of Luo Yigang, whose ranking is 9.

Chinese coach Tong Sinfu said, as quoted by the website, that the Malaysian Open would be the last opportunity for the players to impress the selectors.

Should Taufik manage to reach the final, he might be able to revenge himself on Xia Xuanze of China, who defeated him in the All England final in May.

Indonesia is also hoping to win another title in the men's doubles from world number ten pairing Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian. They are scheduled to challenge top seeds Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon of South Korea in the quarterfinals.

Compatriots Sigit Budiarto and Halim Heryanto are also expected to reach the quarters to face another Korean duo of Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung.

The withdrawal of Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson, and also Chris Hunt and Julian Robertson, both of which pairs are from England, leaves the way open for the Indonesians to advance further.

In the women's singles, Lidya Djaelawidjaja will have a tough opener as she will face the 1998 Asian Games gold medalist Kanako Yonekura.

While in the women's doubles, world number eight pairing Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta are expected to reach the quarterfinals where they are likely to face Joanne Goode and Donna Kellogg of England. The Indonesians lost to the English pair in the Indonesian Open. (yan)