Indons, Malaysian shuttlers eye team crown

The battle for badminton supremacy continues as the top caliber squads of Indonesia and Malaysia gun for the gold in the men’s team event finals today at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Indonesia is out to defend its title, while Malaysia hopes to improve on its bronze finish in 2003.

World and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and World No. 3 Lee Chong Wei will renew their fancied rivalry as they lead their teams to the first gold at stake in the event.

With the crowd behind him, Indonesia’s Hidayat edged Vietnam’s top-ranked Nguyen Tien Minh, 15-12, 15-11 in the first singles of the men’s team semifinals yesterday.

Chong Wei, for his part, needed more than an hour before he subdued World No. 13 Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in their first meeting ever, 15-9, 11-15, and 15-11.

Indonesians Simon Santoso and defending men’s singles champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro won their singles assignments. The Malaysian tandem of Khoo Kien Keat and Chan Chong Ming survived a tightly-contested match against Sudket Prapakamol and Phatapol Ngensrisuk of Thailand, 15-4, 9-15, and 17-14. Malaysia’s second singles bet Muhd Hafiz Hashim sealed the team’s finals berth.

Bannered by SEAG silver medalist Solakjit Ponsana, Thailand will advance to the women’s team finals after defeating Malaysia in a 3-2 contest. Thailand will face Singapore, which also won 3-2 over Indonesia. -Icy Luzano