PROTON MALAYSIA OPEN Day 2 - Taufik cursed in Bukit Jalil
| PROTON MALAYSIA OPEN Day 2 - Taufik cursed in Bukit Jalil |
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Third seed Taufik Hidayat was shown the exit as early as the first round of the Proton Malaysia Open after a much-awaited rematch with the man in form, Denmark's Jan Jorgensen. Raphaël Sachetat, live from Bukit Jalil Stadium. Photos (live) : Badmintonphoto A little more than 2 years ago, Taufik Hidayat had been beaten, in this very same Bukit Jalil Stadium, in Kuala Lumpur, by India's Anup Sridhar in the second round of the 2007 World Championships, 22-20 in the decider. The year after, he was to bow out early in the competition of both the Super Series event as of the Grand Prix Gold. But this year, the independent shuttler - who had announced the building of an academy in his own Indonesia to raise young talents - came on court with an evident motivation after he was drawn to meet the new rising star from Denmark, Jan Jorgensen. And the first game looked like it was going to be a quick story as Hidayat played a wonderful game while his younger opponent had not gotten the engine started. "I don't know what happened to me in the first game, I was on another planet," said Jorgensen, who was hoping to fare well against the player who had ended his run at Hyderabad's World Championships last year. "He's a player I've always looked up to so I was hoping to play well and beat him. I knew that if I could pull the second game then, I would have a chance as I know he doesn't like to play three setters," hinted the Dane in spite of the shaky 7-21 start.  The second game was an amazing battle to watch and the public had taken sides for Jorgensen even if the rather big Indonesian community was voicing its appreciation of Taufik's shots. Even Jorgensen, on one occasion, clapped one of Taufik's legendary's backhand smashes, raising his eyebrows in admiration and exchanging a brief smile with his coach Kenneth Jonassen - the latter also had applauded such shots few years ago...But Jorgensen kept fighting and hung in there, and was in the lead all through out the second part of the game when Taufik (photo, right) caught up at 19-19. The experience that the Dane took last year from his amazing runs proved efficient as he was the one bagging the game 21-19, pushing the former Olympic champion to a decider. And once again, Jorgensen banked on his fighting spirit to make the difference when he took the match on his second match point, 21-17 after a splendid 56-minute battle, where Taufik didn't let go as he often does when he can't find any solutions. The Indonesian played well but just lost to a better player on the day. "It just feels great to beat Taufik for the first time. One of my goals was to start of the new year as the last one had ended and prove that I'm not just a short story and that I am here to stay," said Jorgensen. The Dane is now set to play Japan's Yamada and then Bao Chunlai if the tall left-hander gets past Vietnam's Nguyen. If Gade succeeded easily to get his ticket to the second round, China's new prospect of Chen Long was shown the exit by an inspired Boonsak Ponsana. That leaves China with Bao, Chen Jin and Du Pengyu in the draw, the latter having to take on Lee Chong Wei today. Tough Dae A week after being shown the exit in the mixed doubles, Lee Yong Dae experienced the same fate in Malaysia in his first round of the men's doubles, where he and partner Jung Jae Sung, hot favourites with Cai/Fu and Koo/Tan, were beaten by Malaysia's Hoon and Ong for one of the main surprises of the day, 21-18 in the decider. That made up for the local disillusion of seeing Abdul Latif and Fairuzizuan Tazari shown the exit by Gunawan and Bach earlier in the evening. For complete results from Day 2 of the 2010 Proton Malaysia Open Super Series, CLICK HERE Badzine's hotel partner in Kuala Lumpur - Dorsett Regency: Dorsett Regency Hotel Kuala Lumpur is strategically located at the beginning of the famous Bintang Walk making it a hop, skip and jump away from the business, commercial and shopping districts of Kuala Lumpur. The Hotel’s commitment towards “value-for-money” pricing and its unique personal touch has truly differentiated it from the rest of the flock. CLICK here to make a reservation at Dorsett Regency
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