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Lee, Gopichand advance to quarter-finals
July 27, 2001 - Source : IBF
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Top seeded shuttlers Lee Hyun Il of Korea and Pullela Gopichand of India paved the way to a men’s singles final clash at the US$170,000 Sanyo Indonesiaat the Bung Karno indoor stadium in Jakarta after their victories in the third round on Thursday.
 Lee cruised through to the quarter-finals after a 7-3, 7-0, 5-7, 7-5 win over the home player Johan Hadikusuma to meet Malaysian James Chua in the quarter-finals on Friday, while Gopichand had to work hard before defeating Malaysian Ayob Sairul Amar 7-2, 7-1, 5-7, 3-7, 7-0.
Gopichand (pictured) will play Indonesian teenager Sony Dwi Kuncoro, runner-up at the 2000 World Junior Championships, who is playing his first IBF grand prix event on home soil.
Lee said he was optimistic that he could end up as champion. He said he would not find difficulty in ousting Chua. Moreover, he admitted that he adapted well to the current scoring system because he is the kind of shuttler who likes to play at high speed.
“I have a great opportunity to win the championships,” he said after Thursday’s match.
Gopichand was more cautious in predicting his fate. The 2001 All England champion said he wanted to concentrate on the quarter-finals before assessing his chance in the next round. Gopi, as he is fondly called, praised Sony as a prospective player, judging from the latter’s track record.
“I don’t want to underestimate Sony because he managed to beat the former world champion Heryanto Arbi in the qualifying round. He also outclassed two British players in the first and second rounds,” said Gopi.
Sony breezed through to the quarter-finals after he subsequently overcame Briton Mark Constable in a straight set 7-0, 7-1, 7-2, Richard Vaughan 7-0, 8-7, 7-2 and Saman Ismail of Malaysia, also in straight sets 7-2, 7-2, 7-5.
Speaking on his chance against Gopi, Sony said he would play without burden given his underdog status. “I have no burden at all. Winning or losing, all is OK with me,” he said.
In the women’s singles event, two top ranked players, Wang Chen of Hong Kong and Lydia Djaelawidjaya of Indonesia were still too powerful for their rivals.
Wang was no match to Indonesia’s Atu Rosalina and beat her 7-2, 8-6, 7-5. It was Wang’s second victory against Atu in their head-to-head encounters. The first was in Malaysialast week where Wang beat Atu 3 games to 1.
On Friday, Wang will take on Malaysian Ng Mee Fen.
Second seed Lydia overpowered Sachiko Sekimoto of Japan 7-0, 7-2, 3-7, 8-6 to set up a quarter-final clash against Koon Wai Chee of Chinese Taipei.
In the mixed doubles event, seventh seeds Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms of England will challenge top seeds Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia. Robertson and Emms did not perform too well in the third round but managed to beat Bernadus Ronald and Marlina Lina of Indonesia 8-7, 7-3, 7-5.
England’s doubles coach Rexy Mainaky said that he was not satisfied with his shuttlers’ performance.
“They made so many errors. Nathan and Gail were under form. That would make their weaknesses. They tend to become lax if they face shuttlers who are not at the same level of technical skills as them,” said the Indonesian.
But Rexy expressed optimism that the England mixed doubles shuttlers could overcome the top seeds. Moreover, he said that European players had no problem with Bambang’s style of play.
Emms echoed Rexy’s remarks. She paired with Simon Archer in this year’s All England to beat Bambang and Minarti.
“Our chance is wideas long as we can perform well like we did in the Malaysia I admit that we were too relaxed today. Sometimes, we fail to show our best shots but we won’t repeat the same faults tomorrow,” she said.
Hosts Indonesia dominate the men’s and women’s doubles quarter-finals. Seven out of eight women’s doubles pairs are Indonesians. The only foreign players to progress are top seeds Majken Vange and Pernille Harder of Denmark.
Vange and Harder crushed Cindana Hartono and Dian Novita 7-2, 8-7, 7-0 to dim their hopes of an all-Indonesian final.
The Danes will face another challenge from Indonesia’s Deyana Lomban and Vita Marissa.
Six Indonesian men’s doubles pairs also went to the quarter-finals, including top seeds Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto and second seeds Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto.
The non-Indonesian quarter-finalists were Malaysians Jeremy Gan and Hong Chien Hun, who will meet Indonesian new faces Davis Erfraim and Karel Mainaky, and Japanese Masafumi Hanada who paired Indonesian Reony Mainaky. Karel and Reony are Rexy’s brothers.
(report by Yunas Santhani Azis; photos by Julian Sihombing)
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Other news:
» Now Gopichand pulls out of Malaysian Open
» Xia, Martin have top billing at 2002 Malaysia Open
» Hafiz to take three-week break
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