Birdievents.com

2011 is the most difficult year for Taufik Hidayat.  His world ranking slipped to 12th from 2nd on the beginning of the year.  He stands below players who actually have below winning averages against him, such as Tien Minh Nguyen (ranked 8t) or even Kenichi Tago (ranked 11th) who only won once against him.

However in this final month of December 2011, Taufik finally grabs his first title of the year by beating Sourabh Verma of India in Syed Modi Memorial India Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship.  Taufik Hidayat asserted his class and won 21-15, 21-17. 

In the second game, Verma had a chance when he took a four-point lead, 15-11, in the second game, but two back-to-back unforced errors allowed Hidayat to reduce the margin and race to 21-18. Verma sent a powerful return outside the backcourt to bring the curtains down on the 46-minute encounter.

“It was a great experience to play against a player like Taufik. I could have done better had I been more positive in my finishes,” said Sourabh.  Sourabh collected the runner-up cheque of $4,560.

Hidayat was impressed by his rival. “Though there were ups and down, I maintained my rhythm. I always wanted to win this event to boost my confidence,” he said.  Taufik Hidayat earned $9,000 for the winner.

Final Results
Men's singles: Taufik Hidayat (INA) bt Sourabh Verma (IND) 21-15, 21-17.

Men's doubles: N Kawamae/S Sato (JPN) bt A Adistia/ C Rusdianto (INA) 21-17, 12-21, 23-21.

Women's singles: Inthanon Ratchanok (THA) w/o Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA).

Women's doubles: Shinta Mulia Sari/Lei Yao (SIN) bt Miyuki Maeda/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN) 21-17, 21-18. Mixed doubles: Prapakamol/S Thoungthongkam (THA) bt M Rijal-D Susanto (INA) 16-21, 21-18, 21-11.

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.

Taufik Hidayat, a former World and Olympic singles champion, fell 13-21, 16-21, to young Thai Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, in barely a challenge in a disappointing singles match. 

Being the highest ranked player in this 2011 Sea Games (Datuk Chong Wei is absent), Taufik had lost his touches and barely showed his enthusiasm in the match.  He did not try to attack his opponent, in fact he made mistakes on his own.  Of course, he had his own reason which he stated earlier if he did not want to participate on this event.  However, being the "best" and the highest ranked player in Indonesia, he had to participate due to nationalism.

So now, what is his prospect in Olympics 2012?  Is he still a contender or just a qualified participant?  Is he now playing just to fulfill his sponsorship obligations or to become the first person to win 2 golds in modern Olympics?

Due to his lack of performance in this semi final stage, Indonesia had decided to replace Taufik Hidayat with Simon Santoso as the 1st men player in the group final.  The 2nd men player will be Tommy Sugiarto.

You do not have to be a fortune teller to predict Taufik's fate in competitive badminton arena.  Since the disappointing lost in 2011 US & Canada Open, Taufik had not shown any sign of competitive edge.  In fact, his performance went down further.  Following his North America tour,  Taufik could not even catch up Derrick Wong of Singapore in Yonex World Championship 2011.  He simply gave up in straight set 17-21 14-21 within 31 minutes of match.  Then within a month, he bailed out on the 1st round of 2011 Japan Open to Taiwanese rookie Tien Chen Chou.

His legacy in home court also got tarnished.  He was stopped by his own country man, Tommy Sugiarto in straight set 10-21 15-21 at Bankaltim Indonesia Open GP 2011 semi final stage.  Then the disappointing lost in 2011 Denmark Open to another Denmark rookie, Victor Axelsen and 1st round exit in French Open 2011 to Wang Zhengming, again in straight set.

Of course this trend is not a shocking news to all professional athletes.   We can refer to Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson and other legendary professional sportsmen.  The bad news is about the future of Indonesia badminton.  Up 'till this moment, there is NONE of men single players from Indonesia who are consistent and capable to maintain their progress in international tournament.  Rumbaka is probably still young, but he is not progressing to the level of serious contender.  Tommy Sugiarto is up and down, which we have not seen him beating any players from China.  Andre Tedjono just recently won the Swiss International Open, but that is a second class event, where they are not many elite players were there to challenge his talents.

So, what can Indonesia do? When Taufik is done, Indonesia badminton era is also finished?

Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong suffered a first round exit at the Yonex Denmark Open on Wednesday, extending their OSIM BWF World Superseries tournament drought to 22 months.  Facing unseeded South Koreans Cho Gun Woo-Kwon Yi Goo, Kien Keat-Boon Heong looked to be on safe ground after taking the first game 21-15. The Koreans, however, turned the tide in the next two games to score a 21-15, 21-12 victory which sent them into the second round.

Meanwhile, Taufik Hidayat’s woeful season continued on Thursday when he was shown the door in the second round of the Yonex Denmark Open.

Joining the Indonesian on the sidelines is Indian ace Saina Nehwal, who was knocked out of the women’s singles event.

In both cases, it was 17-year-olds, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, and Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan, who knocked out their higher seeded opponents on the third day of action at the US$400,000 OSIM BWF World Superseries Premier tournament.

World junior champion Axelsen served notice that he is ready to make the step up to the senior circuit by notching the biggest win of career when he outplayed men’s singles fifth seed Taufik 16-21, 21-9, 21-14.

Axelsen took a little while to warm-up, but his superior fitness and shot making finesse helped him against undoubtedly one of the game’s finest ambassadors.

Taufik’s loss means he now enters next week’s Yonex French Open without a tournament victory since taking the crown in Paris a year ago. It remains the world No. 5’s only OSIM BWF World Superseries title.

Saina, meanwhile, is still searching for her first OSIM BWF World Superseries crown of the season.

A year on from winning three Superseries titles in Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, as well as the India Open Grand Prix Gold and Commonwealth Games singles gold medal, Saina has been a shadow of herself.

This year, Saina has only the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title, while finishing runner-up at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold and Indonesia Open Superseries Premier.

The injury-plagued shuttler has yet to come to terms with all the stoppages to her season, and US Open champion Tzu Ying took advantage to carve out a convincing 21-19, 21-13 victory in only 36 minutes.

Saina started sluggishly and never recovered from her slow start as Tzu Ying built a commanding 15-6 advantage in the opener.

Though she gamely fought back to level at 18-18. Tzu Ying finished off the game by winning the three points she need to take the lead.

Saina began to push her opponent in the early stages of the second game but once again, Tzu Ying found an extra fear to break away from 10-all to win 21-13.

In other matches at the start of the day, China’s mighty Chens, 2010 world champion Chen Jin, and the in-form Chen Long, who is seeking to win his third consecutive Superseries title, both reached the quarter-finals by beating Indonesian opponents.

Chen Jin had no trouble brushing aside Tommy Sugiarto 21-14, 21-16, but Simon Santoso stretched Chen Long to a rubber game before falling 18-21, 21-16, 21-8.