Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Wed, May 23, 2012
Archive Search

Shuttlers Come Up Empty During Qualifying for Korea Open
Ami Afriatni | January 03, 2012

Share This Page
0
0
0
0
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

Be the first to write your opinion!

The new year got off to a depressingly familiar start for Indonesia’s women’s singles shuttlers at the Korea Open Super Series Premier.

In fact, all five Indonesian entries in Tuesday’s qualifying round failed to advance to the main draw at Seoul Olympic Gymnasium.

Lidaweni Fanetri, Adrianti Firdasari, Maria Febe Kusumastuti and two mixed doubles teams bowed out of the $1 million event, badminton’s most lucrative event.

World No. 39 Lindaweni fell 26-24, 21-17 to Malaysia’s Tee Jing Yi, who is 20 places below her in the Badminton World Federation ranking. Febe, 45th in the world, was swept 21-19, 21-18 by 16-year-old Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, a rising star in Indian badminton.

Adrianti, world No. 40, lost 21-16, 21-16 to 142nd-ranked Hwang Hye-youn of South Korea.

Those losses left Indonesia shut out of women’s singles, making the task of qualifying its shuttlers for the 2012 Olympics in London even harder. Only the top 16 in the BWF ranking on May 3 earn Olympic berths.

In mixed doubles, Fran Kurniawan Teng and Shendy Puspa Irawati lost 21-12, 21-7 to South Korean pair Yoo Yeon-seong and Jang Ye-na, while the brother-sister pair of Markis Kido and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet was edged out by Kang Ji-wook and Choi Hye-in 21-13, 21-14.

For Fran and Pia, who used to be a pair, it was the first time they played with new partners after Pia withdrew from the national training camp in November.

“I have no problem adapting with Shendy, and I think we are doing well. We lost because the opponents were playing better, that’s all,” Fran told the Jakarta Globe by text message on Tuesday.

Fran and Pia were ranked ninth in the world and had a good shot at qualifying for the 2012 Olympics if they stayed together. The top eight doubles pairs in the world ranking on May 3 automatically qualify for the Games.

Pia decided to quit the camp after the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) revealed its plan to pair Fran with another shuttler, leaving both of them to start over again.

First-round matches begin today. Wins for men’s singles No. 8 seed Simon Santoso and unseeded Taufik Hidayat would see the Indonesians meet in the second round, while 10 doubles pairs carry the bulk of the country’s hopes.