Indonesia - One down, three to go

Posted by Lucas Liau Latest News 12:19 PM

The mixed doubles title is assured with Ahmad Tontowi-Lilyana Natsir taking on Hendra Gunawan-Vita Marissa in an all-Indonesia affair while in the men's singles, it will be the battle of the Lees when top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and Korea's Lee Hyun Il clash in the final at the Cotai Arena in Macau City.
Hong Kong's Zhou Mi, however, crashed out in the semi-finals after China's Liu Xuerui used her superior fitness to stop the former World No 1 in three games.
Xuerui, unseeded, won 21-8, 19-21, 21-10 and will meet another unseeded player, Indonesia's Adriyanti Firdasari in the final. The Indonesian beat Chinese Taipei's Cheng Shao Chieh 21-14, 21-11.
But the day's biggest upset came in the men's doubles when former world and Olympic champions Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan were beaten by Korea's Ko Sung Hyun-Yoo Yeon Seong 18-21, 21-18, 21-11.
The Indonesians, who have opted to quit the national training camp in favour of training on their own, showed glimpses of their old form but paid the price for their inconsistency and lack of fitness compared to the Koreans.
With the BWF World Championships in Paris, which begins on Aug 23, on their radar, Markis-Kido are keen to get as many matches as possible under their belt before the Paris assignment as they look towards regaining the world title they won in 2007.
Indonesia, however, will still be represented in the men's doubles final after Alvent Yulianto-Hendra Aprida Gunawan beat Korea's Cho Gun Woo-Kwon Yi Goo 21-18, 21-19.
In the men's singles, Lee Chong Wei, the World No 1, was fully stretched by Indonesia's Simon Santoso before prevailing to a 21-12, 18-21, 21-12 win to book his place in the final.
Korea's Lee Hyun Il, making a comeback to competitive international badminton, showed that he was still a force to be reckoned with when he beat Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 21-18, 21-17 in the second semi-final.
In the women's doubles, Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari-Greysia Polii will be out to make it a memorable outing for the Indpnesian contingent when they take on Chinese Taipei's Cheng Wen Hsing-Chien Yu Chin who shocked top seeds Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna of Japan 21-11, 21-11.