Rosy start for Simon and Kido/Hendra

Men’s singles shuttler Simon Santoso, compatriots Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan and the mixed doubles pairs made winning starts at the richest Badminton World Federation (BWF) Korea Open Super Series Premier tournament in Seoul on Wednesday.

Fresh from his semifinal defeat at the recent Malaysia Open, unseeded Simon sidelined seventh seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 21-16, 21-14 on Wednesday.

Simon will face Rajiv Ouseph of England on Thursday.

His compatriot, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka, though, failed to overpower the old Danish hand, Peter Gade, who is the third seed in the tournament. Gade excelled 21-17, 21-10 in a 37 minute match.

Booking the main-round ticket from the qualifier, Tommy Sugiarto was unable to prolong his participation at the US$1.2 million prize tournament, as he was crushed 21-15, 21-15 by China’s strong shuttler Lin Dan.

World number-two Taufik Hidayat will play Japanese Sho Sasaki late on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, world number-three men’s duo Kido and his recently injured partner Hendra also smoothly booked the second round as they beat Thailand’s pair Songphon Anugritayawon and Sudket Prapakamol 21-16, 21-15 in just 21 minutes. The Indonesians will face either South Korean pair qualifier or Xu Chen and Zhang Nan of China.

Eighth seed Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan were scheduled for a late match on Wednesday. Hopeful pair Bona Septano and M. Ahsan unexpectedly crashed 21-12, 22-20 in their opening qualifier against Robert Blair of England and Flandy Limpele of Indonesia. Bona and Ahsan were semifinalists at the recent Malaysia Open.

Indonesia also bowed out of the women’s singles arena when the last-standing envoy, Maria Febe Kusumastuti, failed to upset dominating top seed Wang Xin of China. Febe crashed 11-21, 13-21 in a half-an-hour match. The remaining women’s singles shuttlers, Lindaweni Fanetri and Aprilia Yuswandari had made an early exit in Tuesday’s qualifiers.

Indonesia had a positive start in the mixed doubles. Pairs Fran Kurniawan/ Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth, Nova Widianto/ Vita Marissa, Tantowi Ahmad/ Liliyana Natsir, Muhamad Rijal/ Debby Susanto all made it through to the second round.

However, on Thursday, Fran and Pia will take on Tantowi and Liliyana. Tantowi and Liliyana have some advantage in the second round as they easily completed a 20-minute first round match against the Ukrainian pair, while Fran and Pia had to work harder in a 59-minute rubber match against Wong Wai Hong and Chau Hoi Wah of Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Nova and Vita, Indonesian mixed doubles veterans who recently re-joined forces, will face tough hurdles in seventh seed Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christina Pedersen of Denmark on Thursday. On Wednesday, Nova and Vita beat Japanese pair Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Mizuki Fujii in a rubber match.