INDONESIA OPEN 2011 R16 – Lee Yong Dae shown door #2

For the second day in a row, Korean heartthrob Lee Yong Dae found a home pair too hot to handle.  This time, Lee and Jung Jae Sung fell in two games to youngsters Angga Pratama / Ryan Agung Saputra (pictured).

By Don Hearn, Badzine Correspondent.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

The India Open runners-up never looked daunted in their second round match against the 2009 champions from Korea.  Saputra, who will turn 21 this weekend, had no qualms about directing his smashes at the normally defensively brilliant Lee Yong Dae.  Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Pratama made sure the Koreans remained on the defensive with his deft returns of service.

The Koreans were forced to play catch-up throughout most of each game, coming up on the short end of a 17-21 scoreline each time.

Lee Yong Dae, of course, had already been eliminated from the mixed doubles on Wednesday by Indonesia’s new star pair Lilyana Natsir and Tantowi Ahmad.  Lilyana and Tantowi featured earlier in Indonesia’s impressive winning streak on the TV court today with an easy victory over Japan’s Shoji Sato / Shizuka Matsuo.

Almost concurrent with Jung/Lee’s defeat was the upset of another top seed as China’s Wang Shixian lost out to in-form Cheng Shao Chieh (pictured) of Chinese Taipei.  Cheng is now in the world’s top 10, has reached two Grand Prix Gold semi-finals in the past two months, and looks good to make her mark in Jakarta.

“I think I was able to win because I put pleasure above everything,” said Cheng after her match. “I’m just on court to enjoy myself. The pressure is then much lower on my shoulders, especially against Chinese shuttlers, who feel the pressure all the time.”

Cheng’s victory made up for the decimation of her compatriots by crowd-inspired Indonesians.  First Tai Tzu Ying, yesterday’s upset perpetrator, could not find a way past Adriyanti Firdasari (pictured) and then defending champions Fang Chieh Min / Lee Sheng Mu were silenced by Indonesia’s Muhammad Ahsan / Bona Septano.

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