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Mia Audina celebrates "Pasar Malam"
October 13, 2001 - Source : IBF
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 As Eindhoven's Indoor Sportcentrum was welcoming the biggest Indonesian festival, Pasar Malam, top seed Mia Audina easily cruised through her quarter-final of the Rutac Holland
Twenty points in a row and only a few minutes: things don''t usually go that fast in a quarter-final of a 2* IBF Grand Prix event, but Mia Audina wanted to make sure she secured her spot in the semi-final of her "home" event. And Tracey Hallam couldn''t do much about it, even if the English girl had shown some promise since the beginning of the tournament.
Yet on court number two, in the middle of this sunny afternoon, there was only one player: led 1/3 in the first game, Mia Audina (pictured) then scored her way through to victory without leaving one single point to her opponent, thanks to her characteristic style of play, full of deception shots and low clears. Even the crowd - amongst which were some of the local Indonesian immigrants - all dedicated to her, didn''t have much to cheer about as there was no suspense at all. As soon as the second game was over, young children started gathering around the court to get Mia''s autograph: they knew it was going to be over quickly.
The Indonesian-born Dutch player looked fitter than ever: "I think that I haven''t been feeling as good as I do now - if it wasn''t for a small cold - since I arrived here in the Netherlands. And with the new team program, I can train as I need, the way I need it, so I feel very confident about my game." said 22-year-old Audina.
The program she refers to is the Dutch 2004 Olympic program that 12 players have been following since the beginning of August. "This is the first time that Mia has the opportunity to train as she was used to training back in Indonesia: we are doing two sessions a day and will increasingly build up as the Olympics get closer," says Audina''s coach Elena Coene.
"I am looking forward to doing well here, as it is always nice to win at home, but I just wish to win a GP event, here or elsewhere, and of course, I am also focusing on the big events, like the World Championships and the Olympic Games," added Audina.
Yet in today''s semi-final, she will have to play against a young Chinese, Hu Ting (pictured), who upset the fourth seed Marina Andrievskaya. The other semi-final will feature another player who represents the Netherlands: Yao Jie, a qualifier, who unexpectedly beat Pi Hongyan - last week''s German Champion. Yao, a Chinese born now playing for a club in the Netherlands, took advantage of a bad day for Pi, whose net play was far less precise than normal.
It almost looked like it was going to be an easy three-game victory when Yao led 2 games up and 5/0, but the tiny Chinese came back to win the third game. Yet her tall and athletic opponent didn''t miss the opportunity to wrap it up in the fourth game. Yao Jie is to play Zeng Yaqiong, another Chinese - trained in Denmark - who beat the number two seed Mette Sorensen, in five games.
The men''s quarter-finals also gave some surprises: the names of Bao Chunlai, Chetan Anand and Ronald Susilo weren''t expected to be in contention at this stage of the competition. Only Lee Tsuen Seng - as third seed - was expected to reach the semi-final, but he had quite a tough time against Chen Yu of China. In a match between two attacking players, the Malaysian had to battle for an extra game after Chen saved two match points in the fourth game. Lee finished it up on the fifth match point.
His compatriot Sairul Ayob learned yesterday that one must not celebrate too soon, and he learned it the hard way against Bao Chunlai: the young Malaysian was already on his knees with his arms up in the air while leading 6/4 in the last game, but Bao''s shuttle was called in and he had to get back into the match, to eventually lose it 8/6 in the decider.
Bao, world junior champion, will be eager to take revenge for his compatriot Lin Dan, who fell to Ronald Susilo in the last quarter-final of the day. The Indonesian-born Singaporean played magnificently, in spite of a terrible start - he lost the first game 7/0. "I had trouble seeing the shuttles and adjusting my strokes, but then I changed my tactics and tried to make him run the four corners: he is much faster than me, so I had to slow down the game."
Susilo (pictured) won the second and third games, before losing the fourth one. "In the final game, especially at the end, I was a bit nervous, but I
tried to play faster and attack on him. I also think that maybe I had a little more experience than him. It is a great win, and I hope that this will be a big step for me," added the smiling Singaporean.
"This win will make a difference," corrected Susilo''s coach, just behind him, pointing out that it was the first time Ronald has reached the semi-finals of such a big event.
In the doubles events, Nathan Robertson should be satisfied with his day. The first match in Eindhoven''s Indoor Sportcentrum yesterday saw him win easily in the mixed doubles with partner Gail Emms. Later on during the day, he was to get a little scared in the men''s doubles when he and Anthony Clark had to go to five games against a promising French pair of Laigle/Stojanov.
Robertson and Clark are the only non-Danish pair left in the event: Top seed Lundgaard/Paaske advanced to the semi-final, while Boe/Steffensen and Larsen/Christensen will meet in the bottom half of the draw.
A tough day for Germany, as both their women''s doubles and three mixed pairs disappeared in yesterday''s quarter finals. Joachim Tesche and Anne Hoensheid had the most regrets after battling for five games before losing to England''s Blair and Munt. The latter will be playing the top seeded glamorous pair of Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson (pictured). Vladislav Druzchenko and Elena Nozdran forgot their bad form in the singles and secured a place in the semi-final of the mixed doubles, lining up against home favourites and second seeds Bruil/Jonathans.
Semi-finals :
MS :
Ronald Susilo (SIN) Vs Bao Chunlai (CHN)
Chetan Anand (IND) Vs Lee Tsuen Seng (MAS)
LS :
Mia Audina (NED) Vs Hu Ting (CHN)
Yao Jie (NED) Vs Zeng Yaqiong (CHN)
MD :
Paaske/Lundgaard (DEN) Vs Robertson/Clark (ENG)
Larsen/Christensen (DEN) Vs Boe/Steffensen (DEN)
LD :
Vange/Harder (DEN) Vs Hu/Li (CHN)
Constable/Munt (ENG) Vs Xu/Russkikh (CHN/RUS)
MxD :
Robertson/Emms (ENG) Vs Blair/Munt (ENG)
Druzchenko/Nozdran (UKR) Vs Bruil/Jonathans (NED)
Latest Results:
Men''s Singles
Women''s Singles
Men''s Doubles
Women''s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat
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Other news:
» 22nd Annual JVC Asian Championships To Feature World Champions
» Ronald gives Singaporean badminton another boost
» Wong and Xia looking for number one spot again
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