I

ndonesia is in shock after mixed doubles champions Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir, and men’s doubles pair Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, were knocked out of Thursday’s second round in the US$120,000 Bankaltim Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

Top seeds in the tournment, Tontowi and Liliyana unexpectedly surrendered to their compatriot opponents, Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa. The world number two seeds failed to maintain their first game advantage of 21-13, as they lost the second and third games 15-21, 17-21.

“Nova and Vita are highly experienced players. We should have played more calmly,” Lilyana was quoted by the official website of the Indonesia Badminton Association (PBSI) on Thursday. Lilyana added that she and her partner Tontowi needed to reevaluate their performances to be able to stay on course for the London Olympics next year.

Vita and Nova, who formerly partnered with Liliyana and reached world number one, will face the Japanese duo Shoji Sato and Sizuka Matsuo in Friday’s quarterfinals. Nova’s progress in the men’s doubles, with partner Tri Kusumawardhana, was short-lived however, when they lost their second round match against fourth seeds Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata from Japan.

The host country’s other seeded mixed doubles team, Fran Kurniawan and Pia Zebadiah, also failed to advance after another surprise defeat to their juniors, Jones Rafli Jansen and Nurbeta Kwanrico.
The third seeds were defeated 18-21, 16-21 by Jones and Nurbeta, who reached the main rounds through qualifying. Jones and Nurbeta will next face Chinese pair Hong Wei and Pan Pan.

Men’s doubles pair, Markis and Hendra, also suffered an early exit from Samarinda. The second seeds lost 17-21, 13-21 to Ow Yao Han and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia.

Some consolation, nonetheless, was achieved by the men’s doubles top seeds M. Ahsan and Bona Septano; third seeded duo Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan; and the seventh seed women’s doubles pair, Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati.

Ahsan and Bona secured a trip to the quarterfinals, where they will meet host juniors Agripinna Putra and Gideon Fernaldy, after completing a rubber match against the Thai pair Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit. Alvent and Hendra benefited from their Taiwanese rivals’ retirement to face Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa in the quarterfinals and Marissa and Nadya will meet compatriots Aneke Agustin and Nitya Maheswari.

Men’s singles second seed Taufik Hidayat, eighth seed Hayom Rumbaka, and seventh seed Tommy Sugiarto, also stayed on track for the quarterfinals. Taufik will compete against Wang Zhengming of China; Tommy will face Malaysian Chang Kwong Beng; and Hayom will meet Takuma Ueda of Japan.

— JP/Agnes Winarti