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| August 22, 2002 | Thursday | Jamadi-us-Saani 12,1423 |
Sweet revenge for Gopichand in Singapore Open
SINGAPORE, Aug 21: India’s Pullela Gopichand scored an upset first round 15-4, 15-2 win over third seeded Lin Dan of China in the Singapore Open badminton tournament here Wednesday.
The win was especially sweet for Gopichand who lost to Lin in the first round here last year just months after winning the prestigious All England title.
Gopichand, unseeded this time after an indifferent performance since his historic All England triumph, was ready for revenge after skipping an Asian satellite badminton tournament in Mumbai last week to concentrate on this five-star event.
And he was justifiably elated after his easy victory.
The contest, billed as the biggest match of the opening round, failed to live up to expectation as the Indian never allowed his opponent to settle down.
In the second round, Gopichand faces Hong Kong’s Ng Wei, a 15-8, 15-5 winner over England’s Andrew Smith.
Another Indian to send a seeded player packing in the first round was Nikhil Kanetkar, who beat number six seed Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark.
Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
First round:
Men’s singles: 1-Xia Xuanze (China) beat Hendra Wijaya (Singapore) 17-14, 15-12; Kasper Oedum (Denmark) beat Taufiq Hidayat (Indonesia) 15-12, 15-6; Agus Hariyanto (Indonesia) beat Ong Huck Lee (Malaysia) 15-9, 15-1; Mohammad Roslin Hashim (Malaysia) beat Rasmus Wengberg (Sweden) 15-13, 9-15, 15-1; 7-Marleve Mainaky (Indonesia) beat Bobby Milroy (Canada) 15-11, 15-6; Kaita Masuda (Japan) beat Jang Young Soo (South Korea) 15-4, 15-6; 9-Ong Ewe Hock (Malaysia) beat Pei Wei Chung (Malaysia) 15-9, 15-2; Wu Yunyong (China) beat Abhinn Shyam Gupta (India) 15-2, 15-10; Bjoem Joppien (Germany) beat Yeoh Kay Bin (Malaysia) 15-8, 15-9; Chen Hong (China) beat Rony Agustinus (Indonesia) 15-9, 15-4; Boonsak Polsana (Thailand) beat Mawardi Wiempie (Indonesia) 15-1, 11-15, 15-10; Ismail Saman (Malaysia) beat Gerben Bruijstens (Netherlands) 15-10, 15-6; Nikhil Kanetkar (India) beat 6-Kenneth Jonassen (Denmark) 4-15, 15-10, 15-13; Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia) beat Kuan Beng Hong (Malaysia) 15-4, 15-6; James Chua (Malaysia) beat Nicholas Kidd (England) 15-3, 15-6; Indra Wijaya (Singapore) beat Yousuke Nakanishi (Japan) 15-4, 15-10; Anders Boesen (Denmark) beat Daniel Eriksson (Sweden) 15-1, 15-3; 10-Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia) beat Ayob Sairul Amar (Malaysia) 7-15, 15-13, 15-12; Ardiansyah (Indonsia) beat Shoji Sato (Japan) 15-9, 15-11; 8-Shon Seung Mo (South Korea) beat Anupap Thiraratsakul (Thailand) 15-8, 15-2; Ronald Susilo (Singapore) beat Sasaki Sho (Japan) 17-14, 15-5; Hendrawan (Indonesia) beat Muhammad Hafiz bin Hashim (Malaysia) 5-15, 15-9, 15-11; Ng Wei (Hong Kong) beat Andrew Smith (England) 15-8, 15-5; Pullela Gopichand (India) bt 3-Lin Dan (China) 15-4, 15-2; Chetan Anand (India) beat Yohan Wiratama (Hong Kong) 17-15, 15-13; Fung Permadi (Taiwan) beat Hosemari Fujimoto (Japan) 15-5, 15-12; 5-Bao Chunlai (China) beat Aamir Ghaffar (England) 15-10, 15-11.—AFP
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