Chinese badminton is again under fire after world number three Du Pengyu’s shock loss to unranked Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka at the Indonesia Super Series event.

The sport’s governing body, the Badminton World Federation (BWF), has long been concerned about players withdrawing from “smaller” events and teammates pulling out of matches to avoid competing against each other.

The issue proved controversial at last year’s London Olympics, when four women’s doubles pairs from China, South Korea and Indonesia deliberately played to lose their matches in order to get a more favourable draw.

The BWF disqualified all four pairings and banned them after the farcical scenes sullied the sport’s reputation and sent shockwaves through the Olympic tournament.

In Jakarta, Du lost 21-15 15-21 21-9 to home favourite Rumbaka to leave China, the dominant force in world badminton and the winner of all five gold medals in London, without a player in the men’s singles or doubles.

While Du credited the impressive play of Rumbaka for the surprise defeat, more sceptical observers said Chinese shuttlers save themselves for bigger events and do not take the smaller tournaments, such as the $700,000 Indonesian event, seriously.

“I don’t want to take any credit away from Hayom but Pengyu hardly gave a fight in the rubber game,” Malaysia coach Rashid Sidek was quoted as saying by the Malaysian Star.

“Pengyu is the top seed in the Singapore Open next week but I won’t be surprised if he does not live up to the billing.

“These players are more concerned with the world meet and will not push themselves as they do not want to risk any injuries. So, if you ask me, their defeats should not be taken seriously.”

Du said people were reading too much into his defeat on Friday.

“It is normal in every tournament, there are wins and losses. I did not play very well today while Hayom was outstanding out there with his strong smashes and defence,” the world number three told Indonesian media.

Rumbaka said he had been expecting a tougher test.

“I never expected to win this easily. Compared to my two previous matches against him, it was pretty easy. I am glad with my performance today,” he said.

 

Run Halted

Rumbaka’s run was halted yesterday by world number one Lee Chong Wei, who is on course for his fifth Indonesia Open Super Series title.

Malaysia’s Lee will face Marc Zwiebler in the men’s singles final in Jakarta today after the German beat Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto in his semi.

Lee played a series of powerful smashes and smooth drop shots to convincingly defeat Rumbaka 21-17, 21-14 in 39 minutes.

Rumbaka proved no match for Lee’s superior technical skills and experience.

“Hayom (Rumbaka) has improved a lot. He played much better than before,” Lee said of his opponent. Zwiebler beat Sugiarto 21-17, 21-10 in 37 minutes.

Sugiarto had won a spot in the semi-final after toppling world number two Chen Long of China in the first round.

Zwiebler said he was “not expecting to win” against Lee.

“I have no pressure. I just want to give everything I have to put on a good show, to put on a good fight and to annoy him as much as I can,” he said.

In the women’s singles, defending champion Saina Nehwal of India went out after losing to Germany’s Juliane Schenk in a gruelling three-set match that ended 12-21, 21-13, 21-14 and lasted 52 minutes.

Schenk’s aggressive net play and jump smashes forced the world number two Nehwal, who has won the Indonesia Open three times, to either miss shots or hit wide.

Schenk will take on world number one Li Xuerui of China in the final.

Li advanced to the last round after beating Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin 17-21, 21-11, 21-11.

 


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