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Tontowi, Liliyana see early exit at Dubai finals
Indonesian mixed doubles Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir are facing the grim prospect of exiting early from the BWF Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015 title after losing their second match in Group A on Thursday
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ndonesian mixed doubles Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir are facing the grim prospect of exiting early from the BWF Dubai World Superseries Finals 2015 title after losing their second match in Group A on Thursday.
The world number two doubles team was beaten 21-14, 21-17 in 30 minutes by world number 10 Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Chau Hoi Wah of Hong Kong.
'Now that we have lost twice, it will be tough for us to reach the semifinals,' Tontowi said after the match, as quoted by the Indonesian Badminton Association website, www.badmintonindonesia.org.
It was Tontowi/Liliyana's second loss against Lee/Chau out of their six meetings. 'I played poorly. I had been feeling unconfident since yesterday [Wednesday],' Tontowi added.
The Indonesians' first loss came at the hands of world number seven Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock of Denmark, who beat them 21-17, 11-21, 22-24.
In the last group match, Tontowi/Liliyana will face world number one team Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China on Friday. The Chinese pair lost 21-15, 21-12 to Lee/Chau and won 21-17, 21-18 over Adcock/Adcock.
In the men's doubles, Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan failed carry on their winning form as the world number two Indonesians were outclassed by their Korean rivals, the world number one team of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong, 21-19, 21-10 in Group A. Previously, Hendra/Ahsan beat world number six team Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa 21-17, 21-19.
The Indonesian pair will have to score points against world number four Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan of China on Friday to stand a possible chance to advance to the semifinals.
Indonesia is still harboring hopes for title contention in the mixed doubles through Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto in Group B, as well as women's doubles through Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii in Group B.
In the later matches on Thursday, Praveen/Debby were scheduled to face world number six Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na of South Korea, while Nitya/Greysia were paired against world number five Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei of China.
The two Indonesian pairs won their respective matches on Wednesday.
The five-day tournament, which has been underway since Wednesday, features players in the top eight world rankings in five events and offers a total of US$1 million in cash prizes. Indonesia does not have representatives in the men's and women's singles events.
