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ndonesian ace Taufik Hidayat says he lost concentration and was knocked out before reaching the quarterfinals of the US$200,000 Singapore Open Superseries badminton championship on Thursday.

After a 59-minute long rubber game struggle, Taufik was crushed 16-21, 22-20, 13-21 by unseeded young Chinese shuttler Wang Zhengming.

“I had poor concentration today,” said Taufik who was the favorite in the men’s singles in the absence of world’s number one Lee Chong Wei.

In his Wednesday opener against Malaysian young blood Darren Liew, Taufik also appeared to be struggling in a 64-minute long rubber game of 22-24, 21-12, 21-18.

Taufik dismissed the idea that he lost focus following local media reports depicting him as unprofessional for skipping a pretournament press conference. “That incident did not affect me.”

Singapore Badminton Association CEO Bobby Lee apologized for Taufik’s absence, claiming that several shuttlers, including late arrival Saina Nehwal, had not received prior notice of the press conference.

Simon Santoso was Indonesia’s last hope in the men’s singles to reach Friday’s quarterfinals. Simon went on to a 21-11, 21-12 victory over his Japanese opponent Sho Sasaki.

Indonesia’s last women’s singles player, Aprilla Yuswandari, failed in her rubber game with world number two Wang Xin of China.

The nation’s mixed doubles competitors also lost two pairs of combatants: Fran Kurniawan-Pia Zebadiah Bernadet and M. Rijal-Debby Susanto, who surrendered straight sets to Nathan Robertson-Jenny Wallwork of England and world top Zhang Nan-Zhao Yun Lei of China, respectively.

Fourth seed Liliyana Natsir-Tontowi Ahmad bore the country’s hopes, as they easily passed Chinese players Xu Chen-Ma Jin in 21-14, 2-10. On Friday, they will face tougher quarterfinal opponents Lee Yong-dae-Ha Jung-eun of South Korea.

National mixed doubles coach Richard Mainaky said, “Our strategy is proved to be fruitful. We’ve learnt that these Chinese pairs are not good against fast shots.”

Rising women’s doubles Meiliana Jauhari-Greysia Polii, also cruised to the quarters by sidelining little-known German pair Sandra Marinello-Birgit Michels 21-15, 21-16. Meiliana-Greysia will face Korean Ha Jung-eun who also plays the women’s doubles with Kim Min-jung.

Another women’s doubles, Vita Marissa-Nadya Melati, will face higher ranked Shizuka Matsuo-Mami Naito of Japan in the quarters, after beating Malaysians Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei in straight games.

Men’s doubles Alvent Yulianto Chandra-Hendra Aprida Gunawan will face Japanese quarterfinalists Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata. Alvent-Hendra beat Chen Hung Ling-Lin Yu Lang of Taiwan in a straight game.

Indonesia also expecting more action in the men’s doubles as sixth seed Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan and eighth seed M. Ahsan-Bona Septano play unseeded Japanese and Chinese pairs in late Thursday games.