Yep..., I am here. GAME! MATCH! Wow, then the future of Rian-Yoke to go to the semifinals looks very good. Aside from the Japanese pair, the other competitors in their side of the draw are all quite beatable...
YES! The Djarum contingent marches on as Rian Sukmawan/Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki win their first competitive match of the year in style, beating the much-improved Tadashi Ohtsuka/Keita Masuda in straight sets 21-15, 21-16. Next up for them will be either the Russian pair or Canadian pair.
Its tough to expect Bona/Ahsan to beat the WC Bronze-Medallist. Even Rian/Yoke lost to them in the Russian Open SF
Up next for Fran Kurniawan/Rendra Wijaya will be the improved Chinese-Taipei pair of Fang Chieh-Min/Lee Sheng-Mu. Can Fran/Rendra beat them and progress to the QF? If Rian/Yoke can get past the Russian/Canadian pair tomorrow (they should be "easier" to face than the Japanese pair today ), then, its likely they have a Korean pair Han Sang Hoon/Cho Gun Woo as their opponent in the QF. Remember...this Korean pair beat Kido/Hendra in the All-England R16 last year Rian/Yoke also lost to the junior Korean pair of Kwon Yi Goo/Koo Sung Hyun in the Vietnam Open 2007 So, not so easy for Rian/Yoke to reach the SF as well.
Rian-Yoke should not get complacent tomorrow....so I hope they do their best...a Semifinal finish here would make a good warm up bfore facing Cai-Fu in All England innit?
Amazing really....Bona/Ahsan actually take the first set convincingly 21-12 But, let's not get excited so quickly.....
So far Bona-Ahsan is proving our 'pessimistic' expectation wrong... 21-12 in the 1st game, 3-1 in the 2nd against Sakamoto-Ikeda! Maybe the Japanese team ate the wrong food or still got jet-lag or something... They should not be outlassed by this INA pair... [though I am not complaining] And Deni Kantono is coaching the Djarum WD now. He just joined the coaching team again. Yes, the 1996 MD Atlanta Olympic Bronze Medalist Antonius-Deni...
The second set is appreciably closer...but, Bona/Ahsan are still ahead 11-9. If they can maintain the 2 pts gap, they could score an upset here 13 smashes vs 7 by the Japanese pair. This could be a reason?