Two locals into Asian junior girls' last 16

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Two local junior girls reached the quarterfinals of the eighth Asian Junior Badminton Championship here, but Indonesia's two mixed doubles pairs went down at the same stage.

Bellaetrix Mannuputty defeated Stephanie Sugumaran of Malaysia 11-8, 11-4 and Rosaria Pungkasari sent home Ooi Swee Wenn of Malaysia 7-11, 11-2, 11-6 to advance in the under-19 tournament.

Bellaetrix will face Li Ya Lidya in the quarterfinals, while Rosaria will meet Yip Pui Yin.

"Both players have a big chance to win their quarterfinal matches. But I hope they could play more aggressively," Imelda Wiguna, a talent scouting coach for the Badminton Association of Indonesia said.

However, in the mixed doubles, Tantowi Ahmad/Yulianti lost to Chinese pair Zhang Wie/Liao Jingmei of China 4-15, 6-15, while Bona Septano/Gresya Polii lost to South Korean Lee Yong Dae/Ha Jung Eun 4-15, 8-15.

"Well, they are just better than us," Gresya said after the match.

In the boys's singles, Indonesian boys' singles Adnan Fauzi, Indra Bagus and Achmad Rivai were playing at press time in the last 16.