Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta 2002 All-England finalist Budi Santoso suffered an upset defeat in the opening round of the US$150,000 JVC Asian Badminton Championships at the Bung Karno Indoor Tennis Stadium here on Wednesday. Budi went down to JBS Vidyadhar of India 12-15, 12-15, a loss that is likely to cost him a place on the national squad. "I fully understand that if they (the Badminton Association of Indonesia officials) don't intend to keep me anymore after the championships. I'll accept it," a downbeat Budi lamented. He said that he was sure that he would not be participating in the upcoming Vietnam Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, because the championships are serving as a qualifying field for the national squad. Budi was the only big Indonesian name to crash out. The home players, in the absence of Chinese players and top-ranked Malaysians and Koreans, proved too strong for their opponents. Defending champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro conceded only four points to outclass Ahsan Qamar of Iran 15-3, 15-1 while compatriot Taufik Hidayat, whom Sony beat during the 2002 finals in Bangkok, crushed Zulkifli MD Salleh of Brunei Darussalam 15-5, 15-4. Simon Santoso and Rony Agustinus followed suit, marching to the second round by dispatching Korean Hwang Ji-man 15-2, 15-7, Japanese Nakanishi Yousuke 15-8, 15-5 respectively. With the majority of spectators opting for the Taufik-Salleh match, Budi endured a string of strong smashes in his first-set loss to Vidyadhar. In the second set, the 28-year-old Indonesian seemed to discover his composure with his dominating play which paved him to a 11-5 lead. But he somehow became distracted and fell victim again to powerful smashes from the Indian, who clawed his way back to win. "I failed to counter his smashes. They were strong smashes," he said. Meanwhile, two Indonesian women's pairs were declared losers after turning up to the court late. Endang Sugianti/Nathalia Poluakan and Eny Erlangga/Lilyana Natsir failed to show up in time because, as they admitted, they had not been notified about the revised timetables. Eny/Lilyana gifted Vietnamese pair Le Ngoc N Nhung/Tran Thi Thanh Thao a free ticket into the second round. Endang/Nathalia could have easily marched into the second round as their opponents Aigul Temiralieva/Tamara Chjen of Kyrgistan could not attend the match either. That allowed free passage to Malaysian pair Wong Pei Tty/Chin Eei Hui, who now advance to the quarterfinals without playing a single set. Greysia Polii/Rani Mundiasti become the only Indonesian women's pair in the competition. They defeated Japanese Matsuo Mihoko/Hirayama Yu 15-3, 15-1. In the men's doubles, German open champions Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian faced little difficulty as they ran over Cambodian pair Deng Titramey/Sam Bunnarith 15-2, 15-0, followed by Hedra Gunawan/Joko Riyadi, Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto and Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan. In the women's singles, Indonesian Maria Kristin, Fransisca, Siti Mahiroh and Silvi Antarini marched into the second round.
