JP/DON

Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting advanced to the main stage of the BCA Indonesia Open badminton championship after defeating their opponents on Tuesday in the qualifying stage flocked to by holidaying spectators.

Jonatan defeated fellow Indonesian Firman Abdul Kholik 21-16, 19-21, 25-22 in the first match of qualifications before taking the scalp of Thai Boonsak Ponsana with a 22-10, 21-17 win in the second match. Anthony was through at the expense of his senior player Sony Dwi Kuncoro, whom he overcame 21-9, 21-16 in the second match. He had beaten countryman Andre Kurniawan Tedjono in the first match 21-15, 21-16.

As the opening day of the US$800,000 tournament coincided with the Buddhist holy day of Waisak, attendance came up in such big numbers many failed to obtain tickets.

Wardoyo and three friends were only able to watch the game between Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto against Malaysian Lee Jian Yi and Lim Cheng Tim on a TV screen put up at the media center at the Istora Senayan indoor stadium.

'€œI didn'€™t expect that there would be this many spectators on the first day, which is only a qualifying round. Maybe because this is a national holiday,'€ Wardoyo said.

He said he was enthusiastic about watching his favorite shuttlers play against world-class opponents.

Badminton fans from greater Jakarta began to arrive at the venue in the early morning and promptly crowded the ticket boxes.

Ticket staffer Choidir said tickets in three categories '€” VIP, class 1 and class 2 '€” had been sold out since 9 a.m.

'€œWe sold around 1,000 tickets for all three categories for the first-day matches,'€ he said.

Aside from the on-the-spot ticket boxes, the organizers also sold the tickets online through blibli.com.

According to marketing communication manager Lani Rahayu the online tickets for Tuesday'€™s matches had been sold out a week before.

'€œNow we are only selling tickets for Friday until Sunday'€™s matches,'€ she said.

Inside the playing hall, Jonatan and Anthony did not disappoint their fans with impressive performances.

'€œIn the opening few minutes of the first game, it was quite difficult for me as he took the lead. My strategy wasn'€™t working, but I decided to change my strategy in the second half of the first game,'€ 17-year-old Jonatan said about his match against his 33-year-old opponent from Thailand.

'€œI guess the physical factor also weighed in on my win,'€ he said, adding that his performance in the Sudirman Cup helped him boost his confidence in his first superseries premier tournament.

Another young debutant, Anthony, put in an equally outstanding run in his defeat of his more experienced teammates.

'€œI played against Sony in the Vietnam [International] Challenge. He won it, but I learned a lot from that. So today I forced him to run around the court a lot to drain his energy and it worked,'€ Anthony said.

'€œSony has a long history of waist injury and his age also played up,'€ said the 18-year-old Anthony, who is hailed to be the next Taufik Hidayat, Indonesia'€™s Olympic gold medalist.

'€œI often watch videos of his performances and learn his play. I can even replay certain parts over and over just to observe and learn his techniques,'€ he said.

Unfortunately, Ihsan Maulana Mustofa and seven other qualifiers failed to join them. Ihsan went down to Lee Dong-keun of South Korea 21-19, 21-19.

In the women'€™s singles, Maria Febe Kusumastuti, Ruselli Hartawan and Lindaweni Fanetri also progressed to the main stage.

Indonesian qualifiers in the main stage of the women'€™s doubles include Nisak Puji Lestari/Merisa Cindy Sahputri and Suci Rizky Andini/Maretha Dea Giovani.

However, the men'€™s doubles and mixed doubles events have only one qualifier each through Berry Anggriawan/Ryan Agung Saputra and Andreo Adista and Vita Marissa respectively.

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