DIJU V / Jwala GUTTA - Fran KURNIAWAN / Shendy Puspa IRAWATI [5] 15-21 21-18 21-19 Watch out for this Indian pair as they have won 2 back-to-back titles in 2 weeks' time.
We need Hiseh Yu Sin to win over Joachim Persson. C'mon Hsieh... It's possible as Jwala must have been inspired by her win in XD. Shendy vs Jwala again in WD later.
Olala, INA's second losing of four finalists...Looks like INA has better chance to win WD title than MD, hard test to beat DEN top-seed Boe/Mogensen. Yeah, the worst scenario is 4 runner-ups for INA squad.
After title sans training, Diju and Jwala aims for the top From the Hindustan Times: In January 2007, when the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) asked V. Diju to play with Aparna Balan instead of Jwala Gutta in the Patna Nationals, Jwala could not hide her anger and lashed out at the powers that be. The PSPB was merely acting on the Badminton Association of India's diktat that only those players attending the national elite camp could team up and since Jwala had opted out, she had to make way for Balan. The bitterness of wasting almost a year still rankles Jwala but the pair is now looking to resurrect the career path. On Sunday, Diju and Jwala sent out a strong message by coming the first Indian combination to win a Grand Prix title, the $50,000 Bitburger Open in Saarbruken, Germany. What makes the achievement all the more special is that they hardly trained together before the event. "We had a couple of sessions in Hyderabad and then a day here before the tournament," Jwala said from Saarbruken. Diju also credited the on-court chemistry for the triumph and added they were looking to break into the top-30 by the end of the year. The pair is currently ranked 80th in the world and the Saarbrucken win should catapult them to 54th when the new rankings are released on Thursday. "We are playing four more tournaments after this — the Bulgaria Open, Dutch Open and Denmark and French Super Series — and I am confident we can achieve our goal," Diju added. Uncertain period The combination's future looked bleak after the BAI decision to force elite camp members to pair up among themselves. Diju and Balan played together for about 11 months but they failed to click and Diju approached BAI to allow him to play with Jwala in December last. The reigning national champions then made a winning comeback to the international scene with the India International title in Guwahati. But even after that they played just three tournaments as Diju was looking to rebuild his men's doubles career with new partner Akshay Dewalkar. On his part, decided to team up with Jishnu Sanyal, his partner in the junior circuit, leaving Diju in the lurch. It was only then that Diju decided to take part in the European circuit at his own cost and teamed up with Jwala. The pair, which played a key role in helping India clinch team bronze in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, struck gold immediately. Challenges ahead Asked about his plans for men's doubles, Diju said he would prefer to concentrate on mixed doubles till November. "I haven't even thought about whom I will partner for the coming domestic season. "But whoever I team up with, I will give equal importance to mixed doubles since Gopi (national coach Pullela Gopichand) has given us the go ahead to play together despite Jwala not joining the camp," he added. Though BAI still does not extend monetary support to those opting out of the elite camp, it has allowed the players to play at their own cost and Diju and Jwala don't mind loosening their purse strings to set a new landmark in Indian badminton.
Bear in mind that the INA pairs are likely to face V. Diju/Jwala Gutta YET AGAIN in the Yonex Dutch Open next week, after they beat the Chinese-Taipei pairs. Rendra Wijaya/Meiliana Jauhari, playing in their last time (at the moment) as Djarum pair will face Chen Hong-Ling/Chou Chia-Chi in R16 and then very possibly this Indian pair V. Diju/Jwala Gutta in the SF. Fran Kurniawan/Shendy Puspa Irawati will also face Hsieh Yu-Hsin/Chien Yu-Chin in the SF of the Yonex Dutch Open, and then either Rendra/Mel, the Indian pair, or Chen/Chou in the Final (if they can beat the TPE pair).
Joachim Persson beat Hsieh Yu-Hsin in another close battle: 17-21, 21-19, 21-19. Up next is Boe/Mogensen vs Fran/Rendra. It will be a miracle if Fran/Rendra are to win this one here....
Rosaria Yusfin Pungkasari lost as expected to the home favorite Petya Nedeltcheva in straight sets 14-21, 12-21. A valuable runner-up placing in a GP event this week as Pipin continues her good form. She also lost to Bae Youn Joo in the GGJP Indonesia Challenge 2008. Meanwhile, Fran Kurniawan/Shendy Puspa Irawati lost in a closely fought battle to the in-form Indian pair V. Diju/Jwala Gutta in rubber-sets: 21-15, 18-21, 19-21. The Indian pair has beaten Fran/Rendra twice and now Fran/Shendy over the space of 8 days. All 3 matches were evenly fought.
Joachim PERSSON [1] - Yu Hsin HSIEH [4] 17-21 21-19 21-19 Sigh... Joachim survived yet another 3-setter.
I think they aren't young anymore. Fran and rendra are the same age with OG champion kido and hendra, they are 24 y.o. But fran is older brother of ina md young star: fernando kurniawan..
