Indonesia’s Taufik tastes revenge over Chinese rival BATAM: Defending titleholder Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia tasted revenge after beating Bao Chunlai 15-4, 15-6 in the third round of the Indonesia Open Thursday, three weeks after bowing out to the Chinese player in the badminton world championships. Taufik was much improved from his Birmingham performance and gave his noisy supporters something to cheer about on home territory at Batam, an island near Singapore. The 22-year-old Indonesian played superbly to beat Bao, the rising star from China who won the world junior title three years ago. “I didnt prepare enough for this tournament, and I committed too many mistakes to be able to win today,” Bao said at a post match press conference. Taufik kept his cool through the short match and made sure he was not forced on to the defensive against his tall opponent. “I have learned from my mistakes in the world championships and I wanted to avoid his sharp backhand and his stiff smashes, thats why I tried to work on my defence since then. “But I was playing at home and I really wanted revenge as I still havent given my best for my country yet this year,” said the soft spoken Hidayat. Hidayat will be the only remaining hope for Indonesia in the mens singles after Asian champion and fourth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro was beaten by Lee Hyun-Il of Korea 15-4, 17-15. Lees compatriot Shon Seung-Mo ended the dreams of the other youngster from China Lin Dan in a three game thriller, leaving Chinas hopes on the shoulders of top seed Chen Hong and his younger compatriot Wu Yunyong. The other spots in the quarter final stage were taken by Ng Wei of Hong Kong, who beat Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, and Lee Tsueng Seng of Malaysia who beat Hong Kong’s Agus Hariyanto. There was no big upset in the ladies singles, with all seeds going through to the next round, apart from third seed Mia Audina’s early exit on Wednesday. China is in the box seat with Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang, Zhou Mi and Gong Ruina all going through to the quarter finals. —AFP
God... Look how hard he twistes his shoes... Seems the chinese MS are facing some real test this time, epecially Chen Hong.
congrats to Taufik.. I see HK's Ng wei is really stepping up his game by beating Boonsak. I remember in the semis of the 2002 HK open Boonsak absolutely thrashed Wei.
Very observant on the pictures cheung & LB his hand looks very odd, I got no racket at moment but looks very unatural. Well done Taufik.
