LI-NING CHINA OPEN 2009 - Kido-Gunawan in shock loss

With news filtering in that Indonesia's national team players will not compete in the World Super Series Finals in Malaysia next month, the Olympic champions, obviously, were looking for a better finish.

But the Indonesian pair were stunned by Fang and Lee 21/19 – 11/21 – 21/15.

“It’s not the first time they beat us, they had already once or twice, in Korea I think. But we were just too tired to play fast and they played well. They’re a good pair, hitting very hard,” said Hendra.

“Now, we’ll focus on the Southeast Asian Games as we won’t be participating in the Super Series Finals. That was decided by our Ministry of Sport,” hinted the Indonesian.

Fang and Lee will play against their compatriots Chen Hong Ling and Lin Yu Lang in the quarter-final, while Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen will take on Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in an all-Denmark affair.

Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae’s experience proved crucial, especially at key stages, as they came back against China’s Sun Junjie and Tao Jiaming while Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong secured their tickets as well with a quite easy victory –at least that how it seems on court for them – against Kristiansen and Henriksen of Denmark, 21/15 – 21/18.

Lin Dan beat another one of his compatriots, once again in a quite easy way against Chen Long. After Bao Chunlai the previous day, Lin played a relaxed but efficient game to see off his younger compatriot.

Things might heat up a bit when he faces Simon Santoso even if the young Indonesian was almost ousted by Carl Baxter of England, who ran out of steam towards the end , or could have created the upset of his life.

The English played a superb game all throughout to take Santoso to overtime in the decider for a final 14/21 – 21/12 – 21/18 win for Santoso. England fared well even if they lost as Rajiv Ouseph was not far from taking a game from Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana.

Jan Jorgensen also advanced, as did Chen Jin and Sony Dwi Kuncoro who will meet for another China Vs Indonesia showdown on Friday.

Park Sung Hwan, on his end, struggled against Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia before winning 21-23, 21-18, 21-13 and will take on China’s Du Pengyu for a semi-final spot.

In the mixed doubles, England’s Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg couldn’t beat a pair they’d lost to last time and it was Chen Hong Lin and Chou Chia Chi who booked their tickets for the quarter-finals.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 10:02 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0