RI men shuttlers cruise to second round at Japan Open

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 09/17/2008 4:32 PM  |  Sports

Indonesian men shuttlers are yet to meet their equals as they cruise into the second round at the 2008 Japan Open Super Series in Tokyo.

Second seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro completed Indonesia's smooth move on Wednesday afternoon, beating Japan's Koichi Saeki 21-11, 21-8 easily. Earlier in the day Taufik Hidayat, Simon Santoso, Alamsyah Yunus and Tommy Sugiarto won their games at the US$200,000 championship.

Fifth seed Simon beat Japan's Kazushi Yamada 21-14, 21-12 in a game than lasted a little more than half an hour. Fourth seed Taufik won a sweatless game 21-9, 14-4 against Hong Kong's Ng Wei, who resigned in the second set.

Alamsyah managed to catch up against Taiwan's Yu Hsin Sieh, winning 19-21, 21-5, 22-20. While Tommy had to push more to win 21-18, 17-21, 13-21 against Japan's Yuichi Ikeda.

The second round is scheduled for Wednesday night, with Simon meeting first seed Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, Taufik facing Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark, Tommy fighting Danish Joachim Perrson, Alamsyah meeting Japan's Kenichi Tago and Sony battling Malaysia's Sairul Amar Ayob.

Three Indonesian men pairs also made it to the second round. Yonatan Suryatama Dasuki/Ryan Sukmawan, Mohammad Ahsan/Bona Septano, and Hendra Aprida Gunawan/Joko Riyadi will meet their second round opponents on Thursday.

"I think this is a very good start for our players. We are expect all of them will make it to finals and win the titles," said head coach Christian Hadianata, as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com.

He said the players need to remain cautious and careful because they were facing quality rivals in the next round. (dre)

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