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Hopes were high this week that Taufik Hidayat would at least figure prominently in the hunt for a Swiss Open title.

Those expectations were dashed late on Thursday night as the former Olympic gold medalist failed to get out of the second round, losing 21-15, 21-12 to an unseeded Japanese shuttler, Kazushi Yamada, in Basel, Switzerland.

Coupled with Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka’s 21-12, 17-21, 21-15 defeat at the hands of China’s Chen Long in another men’s singles match, Indonesia left another Super Series leg empty-handed.

Taufik, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the All England last week, has not won a Super Series title since he lifted the China Open trophy in 2006.

Chen and Yamada were playing in the quarterfinals after press time on Friday.

It has been a disappointing stint in Basel for the Indonesians, who saw seven other shuttlers exit early. The men’s pairs of Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, and Alvent Yulianto and Hendra Aprida Gunawan didn’t make it past the first round, nor did Maria Febe Kusumastuti in women’s singles. Viki Indra Okvana and Gustiani Megawati lost in the qualifying round in mixed doubles.

With Taufik out and world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia not playing in the tournament, Lin Dan, China’s top men’s singles player, is heavily favored to win his first title of the year.

Lin lost to countryman Bao Chunlai in the quarterfinals of the All England last week.

At the Swiss Open, Lin cruised into the quarterfinals with an easy 21-11, 21-14 victory over Korean qualifier Shon Wan-ho. He was set to face fifth-seeded Peter Gade of Denmark, who beat South Korea’s Park Sung-hwan 21-15, 21-16.

China was not as lucky in the other divisions, after its defending champions in women’s singles, Wang Yihan, and mixed doubles, top seeds Zheng Bo and Ma Jin, were eliminated.

Wang lost 21-17, 24-22 to Yip Puiyin of Hong Kong, while Zheng and Ma fell 21-14, 21-16 to Chen Hung-ling and Chen Wen-hsing of Taiwan.


Antara