INDONESIA GPG 2011 QF – 100% success for local men’s singles

Taufik Hidayat led the charge of the Indonesian men’s singles as all four involved in the quarter-finals won their respective matches and will feature in an all internal affair in the ongoing Bankaltim Indonesia Open GP Gold 2011 in Samarinda.

Raphael Sachetat. Photos : Ira Ratnati, live.

The lanky Taufik may have hinted he was getting a bit tired of playing badminton last week after his first round defeat in Japan, yet he proved once again this Friday that he should always be feared when playing on home soil. The former World and Olympic Champion disposed of Wang Zhengming of China in straight games, avenging his defeat earlier in the year when he had lost to the young challenger in the Li-Ning Singapore Open. This time, Taufik took only two games and 36 minutes to get rid of the last Chinese shuttler in the draw 21-17, 21-15.

He will be joined by Tommy Sugiarto in the lower half of the draw for a mouthwatering semi-final even if the veteran will start as the favourite, having beaten Sugiarto twice in international tournaments. The upper half of the draw sees Alamsyah Yunus and Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka face each other for the other final spot. Neither had to push their talent to beat their respective opponents – Misbun Ramdan for Yunus (21-16, 21-14) and Chan Kwong Beng for Rumbaka, who had to stay focused in the end of the second game before edging the Malaysian 21-15, 21-19.

“It is good for Indonesia because at least we will have one title, but the bad news is that there is only one national team player, as Tommy, Alamsyah, and I are not coming from the national team,” said Taufik.

China still aiming for 3 titles

There will be no such sweep in the women’s singles for any nation, as Japan, France, Indonesia and China will each have a shot at victory on Saturday and Sunday in Samarinda. Pi Hongyan fared much better against Thai Jindapon than against her previous two opponents and booked herself a ticket for the semis, where she will meet up for the first time with the reigning University World champion, local hope Belaetrix Manuputi (photo). And the match will be probably closer than the difference of world ranking suggests (159 and 24). In the other half of the draw, China’s Chen Xiaojia will take on Japan’s dimunitive but talented Ai Goto, who beat her compatriot Sayaka Sato.

Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa will have a lot of work and should practice their Chinese language skills as they are to face three Chinese opponents in the semis – one at the time however. They’ll first take on Xu Chen and Ma Jin, while He/Bao will play Hong/Pan in the other semi-final. He Hanbin and Bao Yixin (photo) beat Japan’s sweethearts Ikeda and Shiota 17-21, 24-22, 21-19 in one of the most exciting matches of the day, saving 2 match points in the second game.

In the women’s doubles, the duo of Vivan Hoo and Woon Khe Wei performed above par to beat China’s Pan Pan and Shu Cheng. They’ll take on a Thai pair while China’s new stars of Bao/Zhong will be looking for another success against Indonesia’s Agustin/Maheswari (photo), who stunned 7th seeds Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati.

“It is always harder to play against Indonesians, because we practice together and Nadya was pairing with Nitya for years, and she [Nadya] never liked the way Nitya plays, and we did numbers of errors,” said Vita Marissa after her loss.

Last but not least, the men’s doubles event has already one finalist known as Ahsan and Septano will benefit from the withdrawal of Taipei’s Fang and Lee.  This marks another stroke of luck in the draw for the top seeds, who had to play only one game on Friday to beat their compatriots Putra/Fernaldi, who had to stop after losing the first game 19-21. The other half of the draw will see Japan’s Hakayaka/Endo take on locals Sugiarto/Wirawan.

All results HERE