Taufik, Sony get first-round byes in China [font=Arial, Helvetica] Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta Indonesia's singles hopefuls Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and Sony Dwi Kuncoro will receive a bye in the first round of the US$250,000 China Open badminton tournament in Guangzhou on Tuesday. From the draw, which was released on www.worldbadminton.net, on Tuesday, Sony is likely to face his tough test in the third round against Malaysia's top shuttler Wong Choong Hann. Sony, who is seeded fourth in the tournament, looks to build on his Olympic performance which earned him a bronze. "I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I want to win this event," Sony told The Jakarta Post on Saturday prior to the team's departure to China. Sony and Wong have evened their meeting record at 3-3 but Sony has won their last two matches in the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and Thomas Cup. Eighth seed Taufik Hidayat is expected to face little trouble until the quarterfinals where he is tipped to clash with his rival Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark. In the men's doubles, Indonesia's aces and world's number one pair Alven Yulianto and Luluk Hadiyanto are skipping the tournament in order to focus more on the five-star Singapore Open the following week. They leave the task to re-united pair Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto, and young pair Markis Kidho and Hendra Setiawan. Candra and Sigit, who had partnered in the past before breaking up, play against Hong Kong's Chan Yan Kit and Wong Wai Hong in the first round, while Markis and Hendra Setiawan will tackle English pair Simon Archer and Anthony Clark. Men's doubles coach Christian Hadinata said that he is not setting any target for the two pairs, particularly for Candra and Sigit who will make their first partnership in the tournament after splitting for sometime. The team is also keen to see it as a test in the mixed doubles with Nova Widianto pairing with Lilyana Natsir and Anggun Nugroho with Yunita Tetty for the first time in official matches. Nova teams with Lilyana, as his regular partner Vita Marissa is nursing a shoulder injury, while Anggun has lost Eny Erlangga who resigned from the training center three months ago. In their debut, Nova and Lilyana will take on world number one Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms, while Anggun and Yunita are up against another English pair, seventh seeds Robert Blair and Natalie Munt. Mixed doubles coach Richard Mainaky said that he was optimistic about Nova and Lilyana's chances to reach the semifinals. "Lilyana is a very good player and she's got the same playing characteristics as Vita. I'm sure she can replace Vita to pose an edge in this event," Richard said.[/font]
Nice story, well written!! Unfortunate for the young pair to meet the experienced english pair- It should be an intresting game. Widianto/lilyana are also unfortunate to meet another Eng pair. I like widianto, always very aggressive, he needs a better partner than marissa though, she is not as sharp as the other top mixed women at the net.
