T

he Indonesian doubles teams are making a strong showing, while men’s singles shuttler Sony Dwi Kuncoro was sidelined by another injury at the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold in Alor Setar on Friday.

Mixed doubles champions at the recent India Open Super Series and event second seeds Tantowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir advanced to meet second seeded Thais Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichichaikul with a win over Japanese pair Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota 21-15, 21-18.

Mixed doubles pair Fran Kurniawan and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet will play Malaysians Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying after beating another Malaysian pairing, Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and Ng Hui Lin, 21-6, 21-18.

World number six women’s doubles pair Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii are also through to semifinal, where they will meet world number three pair Japanese Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna after defeating compatriots Anneke Feinya and Nitya Krishinda 21-15, 22-20.

Alvent Yulianto and Hendra Aprida Gunawan is Indonesian last men’s duo through to the semifinals as they beat Japanese Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata 21-15, 17-21, 22-20.

Sony surrendered to injury again and bowed out of Friday’s quarterfinals to third seeded Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen.

Sony lost the first game 21-18 and retired 1-5 down in the second after 23 minutes on court.

“I’ve been feeling the pain for the last couple of days. There is no problem when I walk but I feel the pain when I try to stretch or make quick movements on court,” he was quoted as saying on the Badminton World Federation’s official website.

“It is very disappointing as I have suffered lots of injuries since last year. I thought I could make up for past disappointments by doing well here. The draw was kind to me and I was feeling confident entering today’s match despite the pain. I think I could have gone on to the final as I fancied my chances against Bao Chunlai or Lee Hyun Il,” Sony continued.

Despite having to swallow the bitter pill of defeat at numerous tournaments due to nagging injury woes, Sony is hopeful of qualifying for the Olympics.

“I think I can still qualify. I need to work hard and get myself fit for the Singapore and Indonesian Super Series events and try to make an impact at these two tournaments. If I do well in both competitions, I can collect more ranking points to move up the ladder,” the former world number six, who is now ranked 29th, said.

Meanwhile, following in the footsteps of Kido and Hendra, who crumbled to unheralded Malaysian opponents, M. Ahsan and Bona Septano, the tournament third seeds, lost to unseeded Ruud Bosch and Koen Ridder of the Netherlands 20-22, 18-21.

Indonesia has no more envoys in the women’s singles after Aprilla Yuswandari was outplayed by world number seven and fourth seed South Korean Bae Youn Joo. The tournament serves as the first qualifier for the London Olympics.