Olympics: Champion Hidayat crashes out of men's badminton

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

BEIJING - Defending champion Taufik Hidayat crashed out of the men's badminton in his first match on Monday, still suffering lingering effects of dengue fever which hospitalised him just weeks before the Games.

The Indonesian, who turned 27 on Sunday, described the straight sets defeat to Wong Choong Hann as a surprise, but paid credit to the Malaysian veteran playing in his third Olympics.

"I was feeling not good, my condition was not 100 percent, (but) he was a good player today Wong Choong Hann," Hidayat said.

"It's a surprise losing the first time round," he said.

The seventh seed was always going to struggle at these Games against China's three formidable champions as the host nation guns for a clean sweep of the gold medals, as well as inform second seed Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei.

But the Indonesian, known for his volatile temperament, was cut down in the lead up to the Games, spending six days in hospital with the fever, leaving him just one week before Beijing to hit the courts again.

In contrast, arch rival and Chinese number one Lin Dan strode into the round of 16 over Hong Kong's Ng Wei, determined to make amends after his first round exit in Athens.

"I was concentrating very hard because I didn't want to lose like I did in Athens," he told reporters of his straight sets win.

Lin, a double world champion, now plays South Korean's Park Sunghwan after he downed his unfancied opponent.

Malaysia's Lee sizzled against Singapore's Ronald Susilo on Monday in his first outing, as he guns for his country's first ever gold medal.

Despite the weight of a nation on his shoulders, second seed Lee shrugged off the pressure, defeating the Singaporean 2-0 with precision overhead smashes and delicate drop shots.

"There is too much pressure, great pressure, but my personal target is a medal of any colour," Lee said laughing, adding he was satisfied with his first round performance.

"For the first few points, I was bit nervous, but after winning the first game, I had much more confidence, although maybe I made some simple mistakes."

Malaysia have never won an Olympic gold in any sport, and all of their medals, one silver and two bronze, have come from badminton.

Lee now plays Lithuania's Kestutis Navickas who downed Russia's Stanislav Pukhov 2-0.

China's third seed Bao Chunlai overcame Kevin Cordon from Guatemala 2-0 in his round of 32 match, as one of the world's richest men, Bill Gates, and wife Melinda watched from the VIP seats.

And China's fourth seed Chen Jin downed New Zealand's John Moody 2-0.

In other seeded matches, Denmark's Kenneth Jonassen went down fighting 1-2 against Lee Hyu-Nil, and lamented his bad luck in drawing the South Korean champion first up.

"He is the only player that nobody wanted to meet. He is by far the toughest draw to get. When I say the draw, I thought this is very unlucky," fifth seed Jonassen said.

Denmark's last hope for a singles medal, eighth seed Peter Gade, trounced Algeria's Nabil Lasmari 2-0.

Indonesia's sixth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro overcame Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 2-0, in a repeat of the playoff for the bronze medal at the Athens Games.

Men's singles (round of 32):

Lee Chong Wei (MAS) bt Ronald Susilo (SIN) 21-13, 21-14
Marc Zwiebler (GER) bt Andrew Smith (GBR) 16-21, 21-13, 21-17
Przemyslaw Wacha (POL) bt Christian Bosiger (SUI) 21-12, 11-21, 21-19
Lee Hyunil (KOR) bt Kenneth Jonassen (DEN) 15-21, 21-14, 21-19
Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA) bt Ponsana Boonsak (THA) 21-16, 21-14
Ville Lang (FIN) bt Raju Rai (USA) 21-19, 21-16
Bao Chunlai (CHN) bt Kevin Cordon (GUA) 21-17, 21-16
Kestutis Navickas (LTU) bt Stanislav Pukhov (RUS) 21-12, 21-17

Peter Gade (DEN) bt Nabil Lasmari (ALG) 21-6, 21-4
Lin Dan (CHN) bt Ng Wei (HKG) 21-16, 21-13
Wong Choong Hann (MAS) bt Taufik Hidayat (INA) 21-19, 21-16
Erwin Kehlhoffner (FRA) bt Eli Mambwe (ZAM) 21-15, 21-17
Chen Jin (CNH) bt John Moody (NZL) 21-9, 21-11
Shoji Sato (JPN) bt Anup Sridhar (IND) 21-13, 21-17
Park Sunghwan (KOR) bt Edwin Ekiring (UGA) 21-5, 21-8
Hsieh Yu Hsing (TPE) bt Nguyen Tien Minh (VIE) 21-16, 15-21, 21-15

Women's singles (round of 16):

Pi Hongyan (FRA) bt Eriko Hirose (JPN) 21-12, 16-21, 21-6
Zhang Ning (CHN) bt Jun Jaeyoun (KOR) 21-11, 21-12
Maria Kristin Yulianti (INA) bt Tine Rasmussen (DEN) 18-21, 21-19, 21-14
Saina Nehwal (IND) bt Wang Chen (HKG) 21-19, 11-21, 21-11
Xu Huaiwen (GER) bt Tracey Hallam (GBR) 21-10, 21-7
Lu Lan (CHN) bt Anna Rice (CAN) 21-7, 21-12
Xie Xingfang (CHN) bt Olga Konon (BLR) 21-16, 21-15
Wong Mew Choo (MAS) bt Petya Nedelcheva (BUL) 21-16, 21-8

Women's doubles quarter-finals:

Miyuki Maeda/Satoko Suetsuna (JPN) bt Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen (CHN)
8-21, 23-21, 21-14

Du Jing/Yu Yang (CNH) bt Kumiko Ogura/Reiko Shiota (JPN) 21-8, 21-5

Wei Yili/Zhang Yawen (CNH) bt Cheng Wen Hsing/Chien Yu Chin (TPE) 21-14, 21-18

Lee Hyojung/Lee Kyungwon (KOR) bt Jiang Yanmei/Li Yujia (SIN) 21-15, 21-12