YONEX JAPAN OPEN 2009 - Indonesians have a blast in Tokyo

The traditional strong bond between Indonesia and Japan will have another reason to be strengthened on Saturday – no less than eight players and pairs from Indonesia made it to the semi-final round. Amongst them, Taufik Hidayat, who played in one of the best matches of the day, against Korea’s Park Sung Hwan.

A quarter-final which could easily have been the final, with the right ingredients - intensity and suspense on a court that was however adjacent to the centre court, where all Japanese players had been scheduled to play. It looked as if things could turn sour for Taufik.

The first game was just a one side story with Park just too fast, too strong, taking a clean 21/12 lead into the match. “I didn’t feel well at all in the beginning of the match. I couldn’t control the shuttles, I felt slow and he was just playing too fast for me. So, I just told myself “Wake up Taufik” in order to play better in the second game at least,” said Hidayat.

But the second game started off on similar grounds, even if Taufik was much more into the rhythm. Led 9/14, the Indonesian put his words into action and did wake up, taking the shuttles much earlier, mastering the net, and placing some jump smashes along the lines, to catch up.

“I thought about going step by step at that moment. I knew that I still had a chance to win so I didn’t want to let go. I was just focusing on the next point only, nothing beyond that,” said Taufik. The end of the last game was both stressful for the players and the fns, amongst which a small but noisy Indonesian community which made it look like the whole Stadium was on Taufik’s side.

At 19/19, Park Sung Hwan scored to get his first match point, but the Indonesian wonder didn’t lift up the shuttle and made sure he was controlling the rallies, more cautious than ever, yet taking the right opportunity to kill Park’s hopes.

The Korean had another chance at 24/23 but once again was unable to convert. After Taufik had wasted 5 chances to get even at one game all the former Olympic champion eventually scored the crucial decider at 27/26.

“Towards the end, it all came down to a mind game. There was no more tactics or strategy. It was whoever was the strongest mentally. And when I got the second game, I knew then that I had done the toughest part and I was confident I could win,” said Taufik.

The third game was completely different and the mind boost on Taufik’s side was balanced with Park’s psychological collapse. The Indonesian took a clear lead – 9/1 and was not to be caught back, for a final 12/21 – 28/26 – 21/15 success.

“Now, I will meet my compatriot Simon Santoso. We had met here last time two years ago and I had won, but since then, he’s improved as he showed by beating Lee Chong Wei and Sony. So, we’ll see what happens tomorrow. But one thing is sure : my tougher usual opponents Peter Gade, Lee Chong Wei, Sony, Chen Jin and Lin Dan are either gone or not here in Japan. As such, I feel that I have my chances to win this title.”

His semi-final against Simon Santoso – who beat Sony Dwi Kuncoro in International competition for the first time – assures a spot in the final for his country, while Bao Chunlai and Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh will fight for the other spot.

Bao played some very skillful badminton to get rid of the in-form Peter Gade, who couldn’t play his attacking game because of Bao’s low shuttles. The Chinese looked as if he was back at his best, having to cope for the absence of his best compatriots Chen Jin and Lin Dan.

Meanwhile, Tien Minh enjoyed a rather easy round of eight against local boy Kazuteru Kozai, winning 21/14 – 21/16.

It isn’t a tradition that a Japanese faces alone the usual Chinese Wall. This usually happens to others, such as Pi Hongyan, Tine Rasmussen, Saina Nehwal, Wong Mew Choo and the Hong Kong shuttlers for instance.

But this time, it is local hero Eriko Hirose, who had to go through qualifying rounds, who will be up against the three “Wangs”. The smiling Japanese, once at the top of the National team, has been struggling with injuries for few years and hasn’t played at high level for over a year – her qualification for the semi-finals is certainly a sign of hope for her.

She was lucky enough to see Zhou Mi out of the tournament in early rounds, and her opponent of the day, Nicole Grether, did what she could but didn’t make the fairy tale turn into a miracle : Hirose was very much in confidence after the win of the first game 21/7 and got the edge at the end of the second for a 21/18 success.

She will face Wang Yihan in her semi, while Japan was very close of entering another player in the semi-finals. Mayu Sekiya performed an astonishing performance against the new star of China, Wang Xin and pushed her opponent into her limits.

The two young girls fought their hearts out on centre court, as Sekiya was retrieving incredible shuttles – on few occasions, Wang Xin shouted as if she had won the point but at her surprise, the shuttle came back for another set of strokes. The Chinese finally won 21/14 – 19/21 – 21/19 but will certainly cross path again with this new player from Japan.

Xin will meet the last “Wang” of the trilogy, Wang Lin, who was expected to spend the more time on court against former compatriot Pi Hongyan of France. Instead of that, however, the French played below par and went down 9/21 – 12/21.

Indonesian doubles had a great night also, securing six pairs in the semi-finals – half of the available tickets for Saturday’s round. The greatest job was done in the men’s doubles where three pairs will be featured in the semis. Three and a half, considering Tony Gunawan as one of their compatriots.

Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan showed some fighting spirit to beat Korea’s Hwang Ji Man and Shin Baek Cheol, but the most impressive victory was of Alven Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Gunawan, former national player who now trains in a separate camp from PBSI’s shuttlers.

The duo beat Denmark’s last chance in the draw Matthias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in three games.

Gunawan, who last name is quite famous in the country, will be involved in two semi finals as he and Vita Marissa beat the World mixed doubles Champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in straight games 21/18 – 21/17.

“We train separately from the National team, now, we are independent, and it feels great to be in the semi final for our only second tournament together” said Vita, who is used to play well in Japan – she had won the title here with already three different partners – Nova Widianto, Flandy Limpele and last year, with Muhammad Rijal.

“I think I just like this place. It’s a lucky place for me,” said Vita. “Now let’s see if I can make it four titles with a fourth different partner. It will be tough against the Thais, but I give us a 50/50 chance to win.”

Vita and Gunawan will play Thailand’s Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul, while Europe’s last chance of a medal Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen will take on former world champions Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir.

The women’s double event will feature – for once – four different nations : Korea with Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung (Korea’s only semi finalists), Japan with Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna, China with youngsters Ma Jin and Wang Xiaoli – who beat Malaysia’s top seeds Wong Pei Tty and Chin Ee Hui - featured against Indonesia’s Greysia Polii and Nitya Maheswari.

Posted by Lucas Liau on 9:09 AM. Filed under News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0