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Indonesia Open kicks off, Taufik aims big
A qualifying round kicked off the US$250,000 Djarum Indonesia Badminton Open on Tuesday, with Indonesian big guns set to hit the ground Wednesday
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qualifying round kicked off the US$250,000 Djarum Indonesia Badminton Open on Tuesday, with Indonesian big guns set to hit the ground Wednesday.
Singapore Open champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro, second seed Taufik Hidayat and sixth seed Simon Santoso will play their first round matches against relatively easy rivals. But junior Dyonisius Hayom Rumbaka will have a tough task as he plays Malaysia’s world number one Lee Chong Wei in the first round.
In the just-concluded Singapore Open, Dyonisius played relatively well, forcing the Malaysian top seed to a rubber-set in the second round before eventually losing.
“Last week’s match against [Lee] Chong Wei was a good lesson for me. I was leading in the third game but he is mature enough to change his strategy while I was not ready to change mine,” Dyonisius said of his opponent on Tuesday.
“This is a good lesson for me and I am ready now to face him,” he said.
Seventh seed Sony, who snatched his first Singapore Open title by defeating Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana, will start the tournament against world number 33 Brice Leverdez of France.
“I feel like I haven’t reached my best yet, but I try to be positive especially when the game reaches its critical points,” the world number 12 told reporters.
“That’s what I did at the Singapore Open, especially when defeating Lee Chong Wei in the quar-
terfinals.”
Taufik Hidayat, world number seven, will play world number 32 P. Kashyap of India, while world number 11 Simon will play world number 16 Yun Hu of Hong Kong.
Taufik is now aiming to become the first shuttler to win the tournament seven times, having won it six times already, last in 2006. Taufik shares his current six-times-winner record jointly with Indonesia’s Ardy Bernardus Wiranata.
Taufik, seeded second at the tournament, was absent from Singapore because his wife was expecting the couple’s second child.
In the men’s doubles category, pair Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan enjoyed a bye into the second round where they will play Chieh Min Fang/Sheng Mu Lee of Chinese Taipei on Wednesday. Pair Luluk Hadiyanto/Candra Wijaya will also start their campaign against first seed Kien Keat Koo/Boon Heong Tan of Malaysia.
Mixed doubles world number two Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir will start the campaign against world number 36 Noriyasu Hirata/Miyuki Maeda of Japan.
At the qualification round on Tuesday, Indonesian Hendra Setiawan who is paired with Russian Anastasia Russkikh seemed to have found their best form by defeating Min Chun Liao/Hsiao Huan Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-19 21-17 to qualify for the tournament’s mixed doubles category.
Hendra and Russkikh, who defeated Indonesians Tri Kusuma Wardhana/Nadia Melati earlier in the day, will play Yeon Seong-yoo/Min Jung-kim of Korea in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday.
“When I play with Hendra it’s really enjoyable. This is our second tournament and we haven’t really practiced together, but now in our second tournament it’s already like we have no questions. I know what he wants and vice-versa,” Russkikh told the reporters.
“If we both win we just keep on as long as we want to,” Russkikh said when asked whether she wanted to make Hendra her permanent partner.
Last year, none of the five titles was won by an Indonesian.
