Birdievents.com

Kudos to Muhammad Hafiz Hashim. He is the only Malaysian single player who is still competing in this tournament.  He is able to win back to back against ranked opponents.  Yesterday, Hashim won of Tommy Sugiarto from Indonesia in straight set, 21-19 21-13.  This evening he showed his caliber again by beating Kennichi Tago, a raising star from Japan, also in straight set 21-14 and 21-19.  Unfortunately, the two other Malaysian pairs could not follow his path to the semi final stage.  The Malaysian women double pair, Vivien Hoo/ Khe Woon lost to Korean pair, Hye Eom/ Ye Jang 12-20 20-22.  The only Malaysian's hope in men double, Khalid/ Mawan also lost to Korean pair, Ko/Yoo in three sets, 6-21 22-24 14-21.

Taufik Hidayat, former world championed and the highest ranked player in this tournament, lost to the second tier player of Korea, Hyun Il Lee, 12-21 21-15 and 21-17.  This is the third lost of Taufik from Lee. Taufik only won once in 2001 World Championship.  However, Indonesia still has Simon Santoso who won of Kashyap Parupalli 21-19 21-10. In the semi final round, Simon will meet Du Pengyu (China) after Wang Zhengming retired in the second set.  Hashim will meet Hyun Il Lee.

In the men double events, there was Indonesia battle between Kido/ Setiawan against Chandra/ Gunawan.  The young pair prevailed with the score 18-21 21-14 21-18.   They will meet the event favorite, Koo/ Yoo in the semi final.  Another two pairs in the semi final are Fang/ Lee (Chinese Taipei) and Chai/ Guo (China).

Women single will feature three China players and one Chinese Taipei.  A raising star of China, Li Han, will play Shao Cheng (Chinese Taipei) in semi final after she the quarter final match against Xiao Chen in straight set 21-17 21-14.  The other two China pairs who will play in semi final are Wang Shixian and Li Xuerei.

Indonesia's Simon Santoso notched his second top-seeded victim in as many days to advance to the semi-finals at the China Open Friday, as he ousted Danish ace Peter Gade in three games.

"I'm happy because the last (time) I met him in Japan I (lost). Many times I lose (to) him. And then I can beat him, and win today," said the 26-year-old, after he dispatched with the tournament's fourth seed, 15-21, 21-15, 21-16.

In thirteen previous head-to-heads over four and a half years, Santoso has beaten Gade just three times.

But this week the 26-year-old Santoso is on fire, and Thursday he slayed teammate Taufik Hidayat, the eighth seed, in another close three-game match.

"I just play and enjoy and relax and then I must (be) confident because I'm the last Indonesian in singles," said Santoso, who won many of his points against Gade with hard slams.

"Very close, I must attack," Santoso said about his game strategy against Gade, who struggled through earlier rounds in the tournament.

But against Santoso, the Danish shuttler started strongly and was destined for victory mid-way into the second game.

"Simon is a good player. When I'm not playing at my top speed, you know, he can come into the match and he can do, he can play his game... It was difficult coming into the match with two hard matches. I gave my best and that's it."

As he left the court, the Dane put his hand up to a cheering crowd, which, moments before had been chanting "Peter, Peter" as he mounted an unsuccessful comeback in the third game.

In the semi-finals on Saturday Santoso will face the winner of the all-China showdown between second seed Chen Long and fifth seed Chen Jin.

"I try my best for tomorrow," Santoso said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Malaysia pair, Koo/Tan still could not answer to Korean secondary pair Ko/Yoo.  They lost in three set 21-18 12-21 and 17-21.  Will the new coach of this Malaysian pair be fired again from this repeat disappointing result?

- AFP/ir

The top Indonesian badminton player, Taufik Hidayat lost again to the same young Thailand player, Tanongsak Saesomboonsuk, in straight set 14-21, 19-21 at 2011 Sea Games today.  A few days ago, Taufik also lost to Tanongsak in the semi final group event in straight set.

The question is now coming back to Indonesia badminton organization (PBSI) who was wondering if they sent Tommy or Hayom, the result would be different.  "We selected Taufik, because we believed on his experience.  During our preliminary event selection, Taufik was able to overcome all of his colleagues. Unfortunately, Taufik could not maintain his aggressiveness and his consistency in this match. He made too many unforced error in critical rally."

Meanwhile, Simon Santoso who replaced Taufik in group final against Malaysia, won the semi final match of Derrick Wong (Singapore) 21-17, 21-12.  In the first set, Simon had to struggle and catch up Derrick's cross-drop and quick smashes.  He was trailing through out the match, 3-9 and eventually came back 15-15 and closed the first set 21-17.  The second set belonged to Simon, since Derrick lost his stamina and made fast unforced errors.

Besides Simon, Adriyanti Firdasari, Bona Septano/Muhammad Ahsan and Anneke Feinya/Nitya Krishinda are confirmed to play in the final.

Another shocking result in semi final match is Singapore's Fu Mingtian made it to the finals of the women's singles competition in badminton at the SEA Games. The 21-year-old beat Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon 21-17, 19-21, 22-20 in a thrilling semi-final encounter. Fu will now meet Indonesia's Adriyanti Firdasar in Saturday's final.  Also not making it past the semis, Singapore women's pair of Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei. The duo took bronze after they were defeated in straight sets, by Indonesia's Nadya Melati and Vita Marissa.

JAKARTA: The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) has announced its representatives for the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, including current young legend Taufik Hidayat.

Team manager Maria Fransisca said that besides the big name of Taufik, she had also included Simon Santoso, Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka and Tommy Sugiarto in the men’s singles competition.

“Adriyanti Firdasari, Lindaweni Fanetri, Maria Febe Kusumastuti and Bellatrix Manuputty will play in women’s singles,” added Maria at PBSI’s training camp in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Friday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

“Bona Septano-Mohammad Ahsan and Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan will enter the men’s doubles. Greysia Polii-Meiliana Jauhari and Vita Marissa-Nadya Melati in the women’s doubles, while Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir and Fran Kurniawan-Pia Zebadiah will compete in mixed doubles,” she added.

Indonesia’s mixed doubles coach Richard Maenaky hoped that his pairs would produce an all-Indonesian final at the Games.

Although many consider Taufik as too strong for the rest of the competition at the Games, the 31 year old said that he placed the fortunes of his country’s team above his current world No. 5 ranking.

“[I am] just like a pond, waiting for its water to run dry. I’m sure I will retire after [taking part in] the 2012 Olympics,” said Taufik.

Indonesia aims to secure four golds from the seven that are up for grabs at the Games, which will run from Nov. 11-22 in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra.