Well..well...just back from the SIS. A good day of badminton indeed..with a number of upsets. It was great to meet up with Loh, EastDevil, Ants, and Kyiyu. Loh will surely post some of his photos sometime tomorrow.
A mixed day for Team Indonesia. Luluk/Alvent lost narrowly to
Jonas Rasmussen/Peter Steffensen. It was tight all the way from the start till 18-18 and 19-18 in the first and second set respectively. From then, the Danes seemed to have better concentration and went for the kill. The danes won 21-18, 23-21. Too bad
Next, Simon Santoso also lost narrowly 23-25 in the first set to
Mohd Hafiz Hashim. He was at game pt, but could not kill the game. In the second game, Hafiz had a 14-7 lead, but Simon managed to catch up till 14-14. Then, Hafiz upped the tempo and went for the kill. He wrapped up the second set 21-15. Simon has improved, but, he definitely needs to be more initiative. More playing hours against these higher ranked opponents will surely help him.
As for the women's doubles,
Jo Novita/Greysia Polii had a hard time in the first set, with the Bulgarian pair keep pegging them and they even had a game pt at 20-19. It was at this pt that Jo/Greysia decided to kill of their challenge. The second set was a walkover and the Indonesian pair won convincingly 21-9.
Flandy Limpele/Sigit Budiarto also had a hard time beating the Chinese Taipei pair. It was more like a practice match to them, with flashes of brilliance only when they needed to do so. The first set went to deuce and it finished 27-25. It was better for the Indonesian pair in the second set, but they only managed to win 21-18. Not a convincing performance and they will need to be better to beat CCM/KKK tomorrow afternoon.
The locals had a good day.
Ronald Susilo and
Hendry Saputra Kurniawan/Hendra Wijaya are through to the quarter-final. Hendry/Hendra surprised the crowds yet again as they did the unexpected by beating the second seeded Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah pretty convincingly in 2 straight sets 21-12, 21-12. The home crowds were ecstatic and that match certainly created the best atmosphere for today.
Ronald also won in 3 sets: 21-19, 15-21, 21-9, but, it was a laboured performance from him. It was also the longest match of the day at 71 mins. At times, it resembled a practice match with long rallies. Eventually, the Vietnamese had to surrender the third set because of a cramp? Ronald will face Peter Gade next.
Finally, I also watched young Saina Nehwal facing the 7th seeded Bulgarian
Petya Nedeltcheva. She's still very raw and need to work on her strokes. Despite that, a good effort for her in the second set.