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NEWS
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Susilo delights home crowd
August 23, 2002 - Source : IBF
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Local boy Ronald Susilo beat former All England champion Pullela Gopichand to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise Singaporethis Thursday in front of two of the Singaporean Ministers and a cheering crowd.
 The 23-year-old is used to troubling top players, but this tournament seems to have brought a new breeze into Susilo’s badminton career: he is now able to finish up the match points he gets, thanks to a more mature game. And Susilo (pictured here serving low) had to wait for his fourth match point to wrap it up in a thrilling end to the match.
For the third round of the event, Susilo was up against a very wise player, Gopichand, who had beaten Lin Dan the previous day in the most impressive manner. But knowing this, Susilo made sure the Indian could not take control of the game.
“I knew I had to push him away from the net and speed up the pace of the game to prevent him from controlling the match,” said the delighted young man in the post-match press conference.
“I was a bit confused at the end because he changed his serves and I took some time to finish.” Indeed, Susilo saw his opponent come back from 14-8 to 14-12 to the crowd’s despair. Yet on his last match point, the Indonesian-born waited patiently to finish it up. “I’ve learned from the past not to kill the shuttle too fast in these occasions, and I have been working on my mental strength as well as my physical fitness lately,” said Susilo.
Gopichand was disappointed about his match, but his fair play took over. “I knew Ronald is a very good player and he had home court advantage this time. He played cleverly and there were some errors on my side. I should have closed up at the end of the second game but I wasn’t able to. Yet I am still satisfied with my overall performance in this tournament,” said the Indian, who will skip the Indonesianto concentrate on the upcoming Asian Games.
Susilo has to recover from a slight ankle injury contracted during his match before playing his quarter-final against Shon Seung Mo from Korea, who ruined Europe''s last hopes for a victory, beating Anders Boesen.
 The other tough match of the day was between Roslin Hashim and Xia Xuanze. The Chinese honoured his top seeded status by playing sharply against a very fit Hashim. In a splendid opposition of style - one defensive player and one attacking - Xia (pictured here after a scare when he twisted his ankle) managed to get past the numerous rallies that Hashim brought back. At one point, the Chinese was so frustrated that he yelled his anger – a very rare thing for Xia – before apologizing twice to the umpire, service judge and his opponent. But the feeling of fair-play was omnipresent in a battle that obviously was a joy for both players and the public.
The Chinese ended the match on a kill at the net to get his ticket for the quarter-finals were he is to meet Ong Ewe Hock who outplayed Marleve Mainaky. The other quarter finalists are Bao Chunlai and Chen Hong from China, and Wong Choong Hann and James Chua from Malaysia.
Camilla falls at first Chinese hurdle
It was not a good day for Camilla Martin. Unless it was Xie Xingfang who played perfectly…
Whatever the reason, the Dane will not be amongst the last eight players. Xie took advantage of her height and impressive way of moving around the court to anticipate Martin’s drop shots.
Martin cursed as usual when she was behind, but almost got back into the match thanks to her strong temper once trailing one game down and 7/10. Reaching 10/10, she looked quite confident again, but Xie wouldn’t let her second chance go and she finally wrapped it up 13/11.
“I knew I had a chance to beat her from last time I had played her, and all the Chinese girls get to know how to play against her as she is our main rival. I get advice from my teammates as well,” said Xie, whose lack of wins in recent big tournaments is mostly due to the fact she often meets her teammates before the final.
Martin seemed quite philosophical about Xie''s win. “I’ve had a good year with my All England win and a Malaysianfinal, so I can’t complain about my game. She played well today and I was a bit bothered by the draft in the hall as usual here in Singapore, but it’s OK. I can’t win all my matches,” said the Dane.
Elsewhere in the draw, the usual Chinese Army marched onto the next round, happy to see their main rival out of the way. Only Wang Chen from Hong Kong and Mia Audina will challenge the Chinese supremacy, but being in the same part of the draw, there will be at least one of Li Yongbo''s protégés on the podium.
The mixed doubles saw Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms survive two thrilling matches as they passed through Olympic champions Gao Ling/Zhang Jun in the first round and Lars Paaske and Pernille Harder later in the day. Only Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager failed to make it to the last eight amongst the favourites, beaten by Chen Qiqiu and Zhang Jiewen.
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