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The younger brothers take over in Singapore
August 17, 2001 - Source : IBF
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Johan Hadikusama and Mohammad Hafiz Hashim have two things in common.
First of all, they both reached the semi-final stage of the 4* Yonex-Sunrise Singaporetoday, in five hard fought games. Secondly, they are the younger brothers of great badminton players.
 "I never take it as extra pressure to be the brother of Allan," says Johan Hadikusuma. "On the contrary, it’s a great help. Even if he isn’t around the tournaments any more, he often calls me over the phone to give me advice between rounds," said the 24-year-old Indonesian. Nine years separate the two brothers, which means that Johan was only 15 years old when Allan Budi Kusuma was crowned Olympic Champion in Barcelona in 1992.
And the older brother should be proud of Johan tonight - the young Indonesian proved to be a great master both in the game itself and the strategy he deployed to win over the much more experienced Indra Wijaya now representing Singapore. There was much pressure on Johan’s shoulders when he was trailing two games to one and 3-4 in the fourth game, but he managed to get the game going the way he wanted. "I tried to keep the shuttle low and win the important points at the net," said a delighted Hadikusuma (pictured here facing Wijaya), who only started playing badminton when he was 11-year-old – quite late in comparison to other players.
As a former swimmer, he stemmed the tide of public support and always kept faith in his talent - and rightly so. After catching up in the fourth game to level up to 2 games all, Wijaya tried to go for the kill but Hadikusuma’s good defence pushed his former compatriot to commit unforced errors. Hadikusuma finished the fifth game 7/1. He is to meet Wong Choong Hann in tomorrow’s semi-final for a first encounter. "What I like about this scoring system is the fact that we can play a tough match, yet we’re not as tired as in the 15 points formula. That’s why I feel good and confident for tomorrow," added the Indonesian.
Also in the shadow of his older brother, lies Mohammad Hafiz Hashim. Roslin Hashim was the number one player in the world only a few weeks ago and first seed at the Seville World Championships in June. Yet Hafiz showed great progress since last time he and Roslin met, which was in the Dutchlast autumn. Such a progression that he now waits more for the kill, takes his time, and eventually became a more "mature" player.
Today, he showed a strong spirit after trailing 2 games down to Thai’s wonder Boonsak Polsana. Taking the shuttle earlier, the tall Malaysian soon began to rule the game. Polsana looked also tired and couldn’t once again pull off the win as he had done at the last Asia Cup here in Singapore. Hashim finished him off: 3/7 – 5/7 – 7/1 – 7/4 – 7/1.
Hafiz will play Taufik Hidayat, who outstayed Sairul Amar Ayob in no time, just enough to show off with some incredible touches: 7/1 – 1/7 – 7/0 – 7/0.
In the men’s doubles, Indonesia will also have two representatives as the top two seeded pairs went through in the most elegant manner. Candra and Sigit took care of China’s Liu and Chen, while the World Champions Tony Gunawan and Halim Haryanto did well to outplay Danish pair Lundgaard Hansen / Paaske. In the best match of the day the Indonesians played their usual smashes and used tricky cross court defences to take the final lead.
Halim Haryanto pulled off a great last cross-court back hand to finish up the match 5/7 – 7/2 – 7/1 – 7/5. Thailand’s Pramote Teerawiwanata and Tesana Panvisvas beat a Polish pair while Denmark''s Eriksen and Larsen couldn’t prevent Asia from claiming a fourth place in the semi-final: they were well dominated by Malaysian pair Chew/Chan.
A good day for Malaysia also as they will be the only non-Chinese country to enter the women''s singles semi-finals - Ng Mee Fen (pictured above) easily defeated Yuli Marfuah of Indonesia. All European hopes were dashed after Camilla Martin lost to Zhang Ning of China. After the Dane won the first game, she was unable to cope with Zhang’s incredible reach. Tired of seeing the shuttle come back at all times – in spite of great net play and good drops and clears - Camilla let it go in the fourth game. Zhang will meet Ng Mee Fen, while Dai Yun will take on Gong Zhichao in another semi-final classic.
The Danes will be pleased to know that two of their best pairs are still on course in the mixed doubles event and one in the women''s. Jens Eriksen advanced to the next stage with compatriot Mette Schjoldager (pictured here), while Rikke Olsen will be playing both in the mixed (with Michael Sogaard) and the women''s doubles (with Helene Kirkegaard). China has two pairs in both events, with Zhang Jiewen and Wei Yili as favourites in the women’s doubles.
Results of the day:
Men''s Singles
Hafiz (MAS) bt Polsana (THA) : 3/7 – 5/7 – 7/1 – 7/4 – 7/1
Hidayat (INA) bt Ayob (MAS) : 7/1 – 1/7 – 7/0 – 7/0
Wong (MAS) bt Mainaky (INA) : 7/3 – 4/7 – 7/1 – 7/2
Hadikusuma (INA) bt Wijaya (SIN) : 2/7 – 8/6 – 0/7 – 7/4 – 7/1
Women''s Singles
Ng (MAS) bt Marfuah (INA) : 7/5 – 7/0 – 7/5
Zhang (CHN) bt Martin (DEN) : 2/7 – 7/1 – 7/5 – 7/1
Dai (CHN) bt Tang (CHN) : 7/3 – 7/0 – 7/0
Gong (CHN) bt Mori (JPN) : 5/7 – 7/1 – 7/1 – 7/0
Men''s Doubles
Gunawan/Haryanto (INA) bt Lundgaard/Paaske (DEN) : 5/7 – 7/2 – 7/1 – 7/5
Panvisvas/Teerawiwanata (THA) bt Logosz/Mateusiak (POL) : 7/0 – 7/1 – 5/7 – 7/2
Chew/Chan (MAS) bt Larsen/Eriksen (DEN) : 7/4 – 7/1 – 7/4
Wijaya/Budiarto (INA) bt Liu/Chen (CHN) : 7/4 – 7/1 – 7/5
Women''s Doubles
Wei/Zhang (CHN) bt Nakayama/Anjo (JPN) : 77/1 – 7/0 – 7/2
Novita/Erlanga (INA) bt Amin/Wong (MAS) : 8/6 – 7/2 – 7/4
Zhang/Zhao (CHN) bt Lim/Ang (MAS) : 7/0 – 6/8 – 3/7 – 7/4 – 7/2
Olsen/Kirkegaard (DEN) bt Liu/Xiao (SIN) : 7/4 – 7/5 – 7/0
Mixed Doubles
Eriksen/Schjoldager (DEN) bt Zheng/Zhang (CHN) : 8/7 – 2/7 – 7/0 – 7/5
Chen/Chen (CHN) bt Nova/Marissa (INA) : 7/4 – 7/5 – 7/5
Liu/Zhang (CHN) bt Bergstrom/Karlsson (SWE) : 7/0 – 7/0 – 6/8 – 7/5
Sogaard/Olsen (DEN) bt Yulianto/Tety (INA) : 7/0 – 7/1 – 7/0
| Report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat | |
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Other news:
» Hafiz to take three-week break
» Memories of… the 2002 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals
» Gopi to lead India in Commonwealth Games
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