Former world No. 1 and Athens Olympic gold medalist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia cleared the first round of the US$250,000 Hong Kong Open Super Series badminton tournament at Queen Elizabeth Stadium on Wednesday. Taufik, seeded seventh, outclassed unheralded Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia 21-9, 21-15 to maintain his quest to qualify for the season-ending Super Series Masters Finals next month.
Once a big name in the sport, Taufik, who also won the prestigious World Championships in Anaheim, the United States, in 2005 and the quadrennial Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, in 2006, needs to rank in the world's top eight to earn a spot at the US$500,000 Super Series contest at Likas Indoor Stadium in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, which runs from Dec. 18-21.
Taufik, who played dismally in his second-round loss at the China Open Super Series last week to little-known Du Pengyu of China, will meet another Chinese junior, Yu Li, in the second round in Hong Kong on Thursday.
The event represents Taufik's last chance to improve his current ranking of 10 ahead of the Super Series.
Also in contention for the last spot in the season closer are Taufik's arch-rivals Lee Hyun Il of Korea (ranked eight) and Peter Gade of Denmark (ranked nine), according to the Badminton World Federation's official website, www.internationalbadminton.org.
Taufik's junior countrymen shuttlers Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso chose not to compete in Hong Kong as they have already secured their tickets to the Masters Finals.
Sony won the Indonesia Super Series in June and clinched back-to-back victories at the Japan Super Series and the China Masters Super Series in September to rank five. Simon won the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold in September and placed second at the Indonesia Super Series and the Singapore Super Series in June. He holds a world ranking of seven.
Aside from Taufik, Indonesia's junior shuttler Andre Kurniawan Tedjono also advanced to the second round after beating Lu Qicheng of China 21-17, 21-18. Andre's teammate, Ari Yuli Wahyu Hartanto, fell to home shuttler Chan Yan Kit 21-13, 21-15, according to the tournament's official website, www.tournamentsoftware.com.
In the women's singles, most of Indonesia's shuttlers crashed out, including Firdasari Adriyanti, Yusfin Pungkasari Rosari and Maria Febe Kusumastuti, leaving lone survivor Pia Zebadiah Bernadet to progress.
Pia out muscled Anna Rice of Canada in a hard-fought 19-21, 21-7, 24-22 match and will next meet two-time world champion Xie Xinfang of China in the second-round showpiece Thursday.
In other Wednesday matches, newly crowned Olympic men's doubles champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan had to raise their games to beat Malaysian new pair Hong Chieng Hun and Ng Kean Kok 18-21, 21-17, 21-18.