Chi Yu Jen (Photo Tony2803.tw)
It was a bad day for both the singles second seeds at the Indonesian Masters badminton championships in Jakarta. It was also a day that saw several other seeded players crashing out to lower ranked players.
Men’s singles second seeded Anders Antonsen was beaten 11-21, 21-18, 13-21 by unseeded Taiwanese Chi Yu Jen. Yu Jen had lost at the same stage at the Indian Open, beaten by India’s Lakshya Sen, but has now booked a place in the quarter-finals. Yu Jen will play Singapore’s Jason Teh, who was given a walkover by Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, in the quarter-finals.
It was also the end of the road Indonesia hopeful Putri Kusuma Wardani, the second seed in the women’s singles. She was given the boot after a 62-minute battle by Taiwan’s Huang Yu-Hsun. The Taiwanese lass took the game 21-17, 19-21, 21-17.
Standing in her way in the quarter-finals is Malaysia’s Letshanaa Karupathevan, who also sprang a surprise when she gunned down sixth seeded Canadian Michelle Li 21-14, 21-14 inher Last 16 match-up.
Fourth seeded Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan found the going tough against Thailand’s Opatniputh Pitchamon, losing 10-21, 13-21 in just 36 minutes.
The Thai player will take on Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh in the quarter-finals. Nguyen overcame a late fightback from seventh seed Chiu Pin-Chian to book her quarter-final spot. The Vietnamese lass showed mental strength to take the match 21-17, 23-21.
There were a couple of upsets in the men’s doubles as well. England’s Ben Lane-Sean Vendy, the sevent seeds, were beaten 16-21, 15-21 by Koreans Cho Songhyun-Lee Jongmin. The Koreans face Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin, the third seeds in the quarter-finals.
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-Huei-Yang Po-Hsuan, the men’s doubles eight seeds battled for an hour before crashing out 21-14, 18-21, 22-24 to Indonesians Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin. Raymond-Nikolaus will play their second seeded teammates Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Shohibul Fikri next. The second seeds had beaten another Indonesian pair Leo Rolly Carnando-Bagas Maulana 21-16, 18-21, 21-13 in their Last 16 tie.
The hosts nation’s fifth seeded women’s doubles pair Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari bowed out tamely 15-21, 8-21 at the hands of Arisa Igarashi-Miyu Takahashi of Japan in their Last 16 tie.
Sixth seeded Kaho Osawa-Mai Tanabe of Japan were also out of sorts as they were beaten 13-21, 8-21 by Koreans Kim Yujung-Lee Yulim.
Denmark’s eight seeded Jesper Toft-Amalie Magelund were shown the exit in their mixed doubles match. The Singapore-Indonesia scratch pair of Terry Hee Yong Kai-Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja took the match 21-12, 16-21, 21-14.
The Singaporean pair will be up against third seeds Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia in the quarter-finals.
