I

ndonesian world No. 12 Taufik Hidayat advanced to the second round of the 2012 India Open badminton tournament in New Delhi on Wednesday as the progress of compatriot and world No. 9 Simon Santoso was halted.

Going through to the next round means that Taufik still has a chance to upgrade his world ranking to secure a spot in the upcoming Olympic Games in London. Based on the Games’ regulations, as of May 3, only shuttlers in the world top-16 singles positions and the world top-eight doubles positions are certs for London.

The India Open is the last international event for Indonesian shuttlers to collect points for their world rankings.

In Wednesday’s match, seventh seeded Taufik beat non-seeded Yun Hu of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-19. On Thursday, Taufik will meet Zhengming Wang of China, who defeated Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-17, 21-15.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s sixth seed Simon Santoso was upset 21-15, 21-15 by non-seeded Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus.

Simon, who picked up a stomach injury last week, said that he did not blame injury for the loss.

“Today [Wednesday], it seemed that my opponent was more prepared, whereas I didn’t feel like I got in groove while attacking, I didn’t anticipate my opponent’s counters and I didn’t use the right footwork,” Simon said after the match as quoted by the Indonesian Badminton
Association (PBSI).

In women’s singles, all Indonesians lost hope as world No. 33 Maria Febe Kusumastuti, world No. 39 Adrianti Firdasari and world No. 41 Aprilla Yuswandari were beaten respectively by South Korean Youn Joo Bae (21-12, 21-19), sixth seed German Juliane Schenk (21-16, 21-11) and Chinese Xiao Jia Chen (21-17, 21-11).

Hope was maintained in the doubles division. Angga Pratama-Ryan Agung Saputra in the men’s doubles defeated Indians Tarun Kona Arun Vishnu 21-16, 21-17. World No. 6 pairing Bona Septano-Mohammad Ahsan were also victorious against Indian pair Sumeeth Reddy-Hemanagendra Babu 21-12, 21-13.

In the women’s doubles, Vita Marissa-Nadya Melati beat Americans Eva Lee-Paula Lynn Obanana 11-21, 21-10, 21-12. The Indonesian pair will next meet Indians Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa.

Two other Indonesian pairs, fifth seeds Meiliana Jauhari-Greysia Polii and Anneke Feinya Agustin-Nitya Krishinda Maheswari, booked spots in Thursday’s round of play as they walked over their opponents.

As expected, All England winner Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, the world No. 3 mixed doubles pair, defeated South Koreans Sung Hyun Ko-Hye Won Eom 21-9, 17-21, 21-18. However, Muhammad Rijal-Debby Susanto were stopped after being beaten 20-22, 21-18, 22-20 by Indians Tarun Kona-Ashwini Ponnappa.

Later on in Wednesday’s matches, men’s singles competitor Tommy Sugiarto was scheduled to face Singaporean Zi Liang Derek Wong, while men’s doubles pair Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto-Afiat Yuris Wirawan are set to meet world No. 4 pair Sung Hyun Ko-Yeon Seong Yoo of South Korea.