INDONESIA OPEN 2010 Finals – No seventh heaven for Taufik

By
Serla Rusli
– June 27, 2010Posted in: news
The highly anticipated clash between six-time Indonesia Open champion Taufik Hidayat and defending champion Lee Chong Wei (photo) ended in disappointment for the Indonesian. As Taufik failed to wrap his […]

inafinals-lcw

The highly anticipated clash between six-time champion Taufik Hidayat and defending champion Lee Chong Wei (photo) ended in disappointment for the Indonesian. As Taufik failed to wrap his hand around his dream for the seventh title, Lee Chong Wei succeeded in clinching his third title in Indonesia in straight games 21-19, 21-8.

By: Serla Rusli, reporting live from Istora Senayan, Jakarta.  Photos: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto (live)

The first game supplied ample hope for the enthusiastic supporters that maybe their hero would not face the same defeat as last year. Taufik fought hard to earn his points and even caught up when he was trailing 15-10. However, the world #1 seemed confident and snatched the crucial first game from Taufik.
“I have tried my best in the match, but my stamina simply couldn’t last me through the second game,” Taufik committed a string of unforced errors in the second game and had to surrender the second game with a mere eight points.

“When Chong Wei won the first game, he became more confident while I could no longer catch up with him.  However, I’m happy and grateful to still be able to make it to the finals. As long as I’m still able to play, I’ll still fight for my seventh title in the Indonesia Open.”

“I think Taufik has tried his best in this tournament.  I didn’t expect to win so easily, but I could see that he was trying very hard to win the first game,” echoed Chong Wei regarding Taufik’s performance.  “I’m happy to be able to win the title again. My condition in Singapore was not the best, so it’s good to see that I’m improving over the week.”

inafinals-robertTitle draught for Indonesia
With Taufik Hidayat’s defeat, Indonesia experienced yet another year of title drought. Earlier that day, Hendra Setiawan / Anastasia Russkikh failed to create their sixth upset in the tournament as they were stopped by Polish pair Robert Mateusiak / Nadiezda Zieba (photo) in a close finals match 18-21, 20-22.

“It is so amazing and exciting to win the tournament. We know that it is extremely hard to play against Indonesian players in Indonesia,” said the animated Robert. “But our opponents played really well today.”

“We made so many unforced errors today. The Polish pair has been playing really well throughout the tournament. Moreover, this is our first time playing against them, so we were not familiar with their style,” said Hendra.
“This is the first time we met European opponents in this tournament, and I think the European mixed doubles are much harder to handle than Asians. However, I think this game has taught us many important lessons, showing us what areas we should work on to perform better in the next match,” shared Anastasia.

Indonesia Open marks a stepping stone for the Indonesian-Russian duo. Their good results have made them decide to continue competing in Super Series tournaments in the near future.

inafinals-saina2Mission accomplished for Saina

India’s brightest star Saina Nehwal (photo) became the second title defender at the Indonesia Open today. She made her way to the podium after reigning over Japan’s Sayaka Sato in three games: 21-19, 13-21, 21-11. Winning this title means that Saina finally succeeded in getting three gold medals in three consecutive tournaments. This also put her on par with Wang Chen, Zhu Lin and Xie Xingfang – three great names in women’s singles who have each been crowned Indonesia Open champion twice in the last eight years.

“This is such a great feeling – defending my title and winning my third tournament. I think the Indonesia Open is the hardest tournament out of the three, perhaps because I’m already physically and mentally tired. Moreover, being the defending champion also puts some pressure on me. But overall, this is a great tournament,” beamed the women’s singles champion.

Atik, Saina’s Indonesian coach, shared his view and visible pride towards his student. “Saina is a really outstanding player. She has an outstanding fighting spirit. She is never tired during practice and is always striving to be better. I think this is why she can be where she is today. She has also surpassed my target for her to become world #5.”
This victory in Indonesia means that Saina may soon climb up the world ranking ladder to become the world’s second behind the reigning world #1 Wang Yihan (CHN).

inafinal-hyojungKorea and Chinese Taipei get equal share

Lee Hyo Jung / Kim Min Jung (photo) grabbed Korea’s share of the titles when they edged out Chinese Taipei pair Cheng Wen Hsing / Chien Yu Chin in three games 21-12, 12-21, 21-11.
“In the first game, we didn’t have to work very hard to win the game.  However, the Chinese Taipei players seemed to increase their pace in the second game, so we were caught off guard.  After that, we knew that we had to work harder in the third game,” recounted Lee Hyo Jung.
Lee has now made it to the top of the Super Series podium with three different partners, and this was her second gold medal from Indonesia: she was women’s doubles champion with Lee Kyung-won in 2005.  Meanwhile, for her partner Kim Min Jung, this is her first Super Series title in her second finals.
“I think we could win the title because we are great working with each other. I feel very comfortable playing with Kim Min Jung.”
inafinals-lee-fangThe past two weeks seemed to have awakened the hidden tigers inside Fang Chieh Min (photo) and Lee Sheng Mu. The formidable duo swiftly pocketed two men’s doubles titles for Chinese Taipei and brutally dashed many of the world’s top men’s doubles pairs along the way. Markis Kido / Hendra Setiawan, Tony Gunawan / Howard Bach, Mathias Boe / Carsten Mogensen and Alvent Yulianto / Hendra Aprida Gunawan have all had their share of defeat against the Taiwan pair in Singapore and Indonesia.
“Winning these two titles definitely gives us more confidence and has good impacts on our performance in future tournaments. I think our success over the past two weeks is a combination of our hard work and good luck as well,” twenty-four-year-old Fang Chieh Min humbly admitted.
“After our good performance here, our target in the near future is just to improve our world ranking and to perform better in many other tournaments,” shared Lee Sheng Mu who, with his partner of eight years Fang Chieh Min, is currently world #13. “Of course, we also hope to be able to play in the Olympic Games in 2012.”

Results
WS: Saina Nehwal (IND) bt Sayaka Sato (JPN) 21-19, 13-21, 21-11
XD: Robert Mateusiak / Nadiezda Zieba (POL) bt Hendra Setiawan (INA) / Anastasia Russkikh (RUS) 21-18, 22-20

WD: Lee Hyo Jung / Kim Min Jung (KOR) bt Cheng Wen Hsing / Chien Yu Chin (TPE) 21-12, 12-21, 21-11
MD: Fang Chieh Min / Lee Sheng Mu (TPE) bt Cho Gun Woo / Kwon Yi Goo (KOR) 21-16, 21-15
MS: Lee Chong Wei (MAS) bt Taufik Hidayat (INA) 21-19, 21-8

All results HERE


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About Serla Rusli