•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

If Indonesia ends its drought of Super Series titles this season at the All England, odds are a doubles pair will have to make the breakthrough.

Taufik Hidayat eased into the quarterfinals at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England, on Thursday, beating the host nation’s Andrew Smith 21-18, 21-14. The No. 4 seed was the lone singles bright spot, though, as losses elsewhere left him Indonesia’s last singles entry.

Sony Dwi Kuncoro lost in the second round, falling 21-11, 21-17 to world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, and Simon Santoso lost 24-22, 21-18 to fifth-seeded Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark. On the women’s side, Maria Febe Kusumastuti lost 21-9, 21-14 to No. 3 Jiang Yanjiao of China.

Sony had won his previous meeting with Lee, coming out on top during the 2009 World Championship in India. Lee advanced to a quarterfinal against Korean qualifier Sho Wan-ho, who beat China’s Chen Long 21-18, 18-21, 21-19, with a potential semifinal against Taufik or Gade awaiting the winner.

While Indonesia struggled in singles, its doubles play remained strong. Men’s doubles No. 3 seeds Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan led the way with their 21-16, 21-16 defeat of Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo and Yoshiteru Hirobe, setting up a quarterfinal against Malaysian No. 8 seeds Chong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah or Cho Gun Woo and Kwon Yi Goo of Korea, whose match took place after press time.

Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Vita Marissa also saw off a Japanese pair. The mixed doubles No. 8 seed beat Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Mizuki Fujii 21-14, 21-16 to advance to a quarterfinal against Chinese qualifiers Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei.

Zhang and Zhao earned the honor of knocking off the first No. 1 seed of the tournament, beating top-seeded compatriots Zheng Bo and Ma Jin 21-16, 21-17.

Indonesia’s women’s doubles pairs — Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii, and Shendy Puspa Irawati and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari — played their matches after press time, as did second-seeded mixed doubles duo Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir.

Seeds otherwise held to form on Thursday. Women’s singles No. 1 seed Wang Yihan swept Yu Hirayama of Japan 21-16, 21-16, while fifth-seeded Wang Xin of China and eighth-seeded Zhou Mi of Hong Kong also won in straight sets.

Women’s doubles top seeds Du Jing and Yu Yang of China eased past Russia’s Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova 21-8, 21-12. Other seeded winners included No. 3 Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei of China, fifth-seeded Chen Wen Hsing and Chien Yu China of Taiwan, and No. 6 Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna of Japan.