World Badminton Championships Santoso keeps Indonesian flag flying
PARIS, Aug 25: Indonesia's Simon Santoso joined compatriot and ex-titleholder Taufik Hidayat in the second round of the World Badminton Championships on Tuesday.
Santoso's 21-11, 21-17 victory over Poland's Przemyslaw Wacha was all the more welcome as Indonesia's challenge has been weakened by the absence of sixth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro.
Kuncoro, beaten finalist in 2007 and dangerous when fit, is suffering from a recurrence of a back injury, handing a second-round berth to unseeded Israeli Misha Zilberman.
Santoso, seeded eight, told the Badminton World Federation website: “It's unfortunate Sony is not around but we still have Taufik to count on.”
Hidayat, Athens Olympics gold-medal winner, next meets Taiwan's Yu Hsin Hsieh, world-ranked 24. Santoso plays another Taiwanese, Hsuan Yi Hsueh, ranked 55.
Second seed Peter Gade of Denmark enjoyed a comfortable 21-10, 21-7 win over unseeded Brazilian Daniel Paiola in the first round on Tuesday. China's Chen Jin, seeded four, eased past Finland's Ville Lang 21-14, 21-14.
In the women's singles, top seed Wang Yihan of China won her second-round game against unseeded Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21-12, 21-19.
Denmark's Tine Baun, twice an All England champion as Tine Rasmussen, beat Belgium's Tan Lianne 21-10, 21-11.
Tuesday's results (prefix number denotes seeding):Men's singles:Simon Santoso (Indonesia) bt Przemyslaw Wacha (Poland) 21-11, 21-17; Dicky Palyama (Netherlands) bt Brice Leverdez (France) 21-16, 21-15; 9-Boonsak Ponsana (Thailand) bt Vladimir Malkov (Russia) 21-6, 21-6; Yong Zhao Ashton Chen (Singapore) bt 14-Chetan Anand (India) 21-14, 21-18; 15-Marc Zwiebler (Germany) bt Jan Vondra (Czech Republic) 21-14, 21-12; Stephan Wojcikiewicz (Canada) bt Dmytro Zavadsky (Ukraine) 21-18, 21-19; Hsuan Yi Hsueh (Taiwan) bt Scott Evans (Ireland) 21-16, 21-14; Kestutis Navickas (Lithuania) bt Kieran Merrilees (Scotland) 15-21, 21-13 21-14; Carl Baxter (England) bt Michal Matejka (Slovakia) 21-10, 21-12; Kazushi Yamada (Japan) bt Kaveh Mehrabi (Iran) 21-13, 21-19; Pablo Abian (Spain) bt Magnus Sahlberg (Sweden) 21-16, 21-15; Shon Wan-ho (South Korea) bt Yun Hu (Hong Kong) 21-18, 21-13.First round: 2-Peter Gade (Denmark) bt Daniel Paiola (Brazil) 21-10, 21-7; 4-Chen Jin (China) bt Ville Lang (Finland) 21-14, 21-14; Misha Zilberman (Israel) bt 6-Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia) – walkover; 8-Women's singles:Second round: 1-Wang Yihan (China) bt Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Thailand) 21-12, 21-19; 4-Tine Baun (Denmark) bt Tan Lianne (Belgium) 21-10, 21-11; 7-Wang Lin (China) bt Maja Tvrdy (Slovakia) 21-7, 21-18; 15-Petya Nedelcheva (Bulgaria) bt Larisa Griga (Ukraine) 21-17, 21-13; 12-Pui Yin Yip (Hong Kong) bt Anna Rice (Canada) 21-19, 21-13; 10-Eriko Hirose (Japan) bt Maria Febe Kusumastuti (Indonesia) 21-14, 21-18.—Reuters