W

ith several top players absent, the French Open badminton tournament proved to be barren ground yet again for Indonesian shuttlers, with not one reaching the semifinals.

It was the second tournament in a row in which the Indonesian contingent failed to bring home a victory following a similar blank sheet at the Denmark Open.

Mixed doubles pair Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, who had advanced to the finals in Odense before losing to their Chinese opponents, suffered a dip in performance in Paris, going down to British pair Chris Adcock/Imogen Bankier 21-18, 22-20 in the quarterfinals.

The only other players to go that stage were Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth and Rizki Amelia Pradipta, who lost to top seeds Christina Pedersen and Kamilla Ritter Juhl of Denmark in the women’s doubles event.

Lilyana blamed fatigue for the defeat.

“In fact, they were not exceptionally outstanding, but we dropped in performance,” Liliyana said as
quoted by Antara on Saturday.

The other contingent members crashed out before the quarterfinals, some exiting due to fitness
problems.

In the men’s singles, after winning his opening match over Sourab Varma, Sony Dwi Kuncoro had to withdraw from his game against Wong Wing Ki due to a hip injury.

Simon Santoso, who was seeded first, was also reported to have complained about health problems, handing Tan Chun Seang a walkover win.

Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka did take to the court against Boonsak Ponsana but failed to continue his game when the Thai led 18-21, 21-14, 11-7, according to Antara.

Andre Kurniawan Tedjono edged out two Danes in qualifications only to lose out in the opening round to another Dane, Jan O Jorgensen.

In the women’s singles, only Aprilla Yuswandari survived early elimination but a second-round match was all she could achieve being beaten by Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. Second-round nemesis also struck Indonesian men’s doubles pairs. Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra, Angga Pratama/Ryan Agung Saputra, Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki/Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Bona Septano/Afiat Yuris Wirawan lost to their opponents from Malaysia, China, Germany and Korea respectively.

Indonesia fielded three pairs in the women’s doubles, but Gabby Ristiana Imawan/Tiara Rosalina Nuraidah and Anneke Feinya Agustin/Nitya Krishinda Maheswari fared no better that Pia/Rizki.

In the mixed doubles, Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili and Indra Viki Ocvana/Gustiani Megawati exited as early as the opening round while Muhammad Rijal/Debby Susanto were halted in the second round.

Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan in the men’s singles, Wang Yihan and Li Xuerui in the women’s singles were among the top players skipping the tournament but it was the other players who capitalized on their absence.

The finals, which were played on Sunday featured Minatsu Mitani (Japan) against Saina Nehwal (India) in the women’s singles; Christina Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhn (Denmark) against Ma Jin/Tang Jinhua (China) in the women’s doubles; Daren Liew (Malaysia) against Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) in the men’s singles; Bodin Issara/Maneepong Jongjit (Thailand) against Ko Hyun-sung/Lee Yong-dae (Korea) in the men’s doubles; Xu Chen/Ma Jin (China) against Qiu Zihan/Bao Yixin (China) in the mixed doubles.