Taufik advances, Simon out

Former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat is the only Indonesian men’s singles player left in the World Championship in Paris after compatriot Simon Santoso forfeited his second round match on Wednesday.

Eighth seed Simon gave his opponent Hsueh Hsuan Yi of Taiwan a win without having to sweat due to his recurring back injury. Badminton Association of Indonesia’s secretary general Yacob Rusdianto said Simon had complained of the nagging injury when he played Przemislaw Wacha of Poland in the first round on Tuesday.

“We had hoped him to recover today, but this morning his coach said Simon could not make it,” Yacob said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Indonesia had been without sixth seed Sonny Dwi Kuncoro, who withdrew from the competition also due to a back injury.

Taufik was made struggle before reaching the final 16 round with a 19-21, 21-19, 21-9 win over Hsieh Yu Hsin of Taiwan in a match lasted nearly one hour.

The Indonesian fifth seed will play either Kenichi Tago of Japan or Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand for a place in the quarterfinals.