Downcast Athens Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat became the first major casualty at the Japan Open badminton tournament when he crashed out to Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen in the opening round yesterday.
The out-of-form fifth seed from Indonesia, who has yet to win a title this season, struggled throughout the 53-minute match before losing 21-17, 12-21, 21-18.
“I couldn’t play well at all. I couldn’t find the way to attack. I’ve lost my confidence,” Hidayat said. “I enjoyed playing badminton in the old days. I want to regain my form, but I’m not sure how long I continue to play.”
There was no such trouble for defending champion and world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, who eased past Rajiv Ouseph of England 21-13, 21-13.
“I feel good. This is my first match of the tournament so I tried to play in my rhythm and check the court conditions,” the top seed said.
Meanwhile, Chinese star Lin Dan, the winner here in 2005 and 2006, needed three games and 43 minutes to beat 2002 champion Lee Hyun-il of South Korea 21-16, 11-21, 21-12.
“I was too careless in the second game, besides, it was a bit difficult because of the winds [caused by the air conditioning],” the world champion said. “But everybody is the same at the beginning of a tournament. I’ll get better as it goes on.”
In the women’s singles, Chinese top two seeds Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian advanced to the next round in a different style with world champion Wang Yihan coasting to an easy 21-14, 21-8 win over Yao Jie of the Netherlands.
Wang Shixian, who claimed the prestigious All England in March, had a tougher time beating her former teammate, Pi Hongyan of France, 21-9, 12-21, 21-11.
Taiwanese seventh seed Cheng Shao-chieh became the first seed to fall earlier in the day when she abandoned the match to Japan’s Sayaka Sato with a foot injury at 15-21, 4-11 down.
However, other seeds — 2007 champion Tine Baun of Denmark, China’s Wang Xin and Liu Xin, Indian star Saina Nehwal and Juliane Schenk of Germany — safely went through.
Fifth seed Baun came back from a game down to beat Hong Kong’s Tse Ying-suet 19-21, 21-7, 21-17, while third seed Wang Xin overwhelmed Bae Youn-joo of South Korea 21-8, 21-9.
Sixth seed Liu Xin whipped Yip Pui-yin of Hong Kong 21-15, 21-17, Nehwal defeated Inthanon Ratchanok of Thailand 21-17, 21-10 and Schenk downed Japan’s Ai Goto 21-10, 21-8.
The third Taiwanese singles performer was Tai Tzu-ying, who beat Indonesia’s Adrianti Firdasari 21-13, 21-18 in the women’s category.
The remaining matches involving Taiwanese were in doubles play.
Mixed doubles:
Lee Sheng-mu and Chien Yu-chin beat Indonesia’s Muhammad Rijal and Debby Susanto 21-19, 21-18; Russians Alexandr Nikolaenko and Valeri Sorokina bested Fang Chieh-min and Wang Pei-rong 21-17, 21-14; and fifth-seeded pair Chen Hung-ling and Cheng Wen-hsing beat Indonesians Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba 21-17, 21-15.
Women’s doubles:
The fifth-seeded pair of Cheng Wen-hsing and Chien overcame Yuki Itagaki and Chiaki Tamura of Japan 21-13, 21-11; Japanese partners Yonemoto Koharu and Yuriko Miki easily handled Chen Hsiao-huan and Pai Hsiao-ma 21-7, 21-15; Hsieh Pei-chen and Wang Pei-rong lost out to South Korean seventh seeds Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung 19-21, 13-21; and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa of India defeated Chang Hsin-yun and Lai Chia-wen 21-8, 21-17.
Men’s doubles:
Fang Chieh-min and Lee Sheng-mu topped Englishmen Chris Adcock and Andrew Ellis 21-17, 21-8, while the duo of Liao Min-chun and Wu Chun-wei topped Ingo Kindervater and Johannes Schoettler of Germany 22-20, 21-19.
Additional reporting by Ted Chang
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