Competition Heats Up at Racket Rally
April 4, 2009
…Intense action thrills capacity crowd at Richmond Olympic Oval
Badminton legend Taufik Hidayat bounced back from an opening day loss at Racket Rally 2009 dispatching Dane Joachim Persson in three sets Saturday afternoon at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Hidayat, the 2004 Olympic Gold Medallist, former top ranked player in the world and currently ranked seventh , beat sixth-ranked Persson 21-12, 16-21, 21-17. It was power over finesse as Hidayat, whose forehand jump smash, has been clocked at more than 300 kilometres an hour, was simply too strong for Persson's canny shot selection.
Later Saturday, Persson rebounded by beating Indonesia's Andre Tedjono, ranked 18th in the world, 2 games to 0 (23-21, 21-14) in their best of three match. Persson's win placd him first overall in round robin competition on the badminton side of Racket Rally, giving him a spot in Sunday's final in a rematch against Hidayat. Tedjono will battle Canada's Andrew Dabeka on Sunday. Canada's top ranked player, Dabeka is currnetly ranked 56th in the world.
Meanwhile, on the table tennis side of Racket Rally, Hong Kong's Leung Chu Yan secured first place in the round robin competition and a spot in Sunday's final, dispatching Robert Gardos of Austria 4 games to 2 (11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 12-10) in Saturday afternoon's match. Gardos thrilled the capacity crowd by scoring a point while making a diving, rolling recovery, but could not overcome an early 3 games to 1 deficit.
Leung Chu Yan will face Gordos in Sunday's final. Gordos beat Chen Weixing in Saturday evening's match 4 games to 2 (12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10) to earn a place in the final. ChenWeixing will face Pradeeban Peter-Paul, Canada's top-ranked table tennis player, in Sunday's other table tennis match.
On Friday, Leung Chu Yan beat Austria's Chen Weixing 4-2 (11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7) in the opening table tennis series, while Hidayat lost to Tedjono 13-21, 21-13, 21-12 in the opening best of three badminton match.
Racket Rally concludes Sunday at 3 p.m. with the tournament finals. Limited seats remain for Sunday's session and are available through Ticketmaster or at the door. The Richmond Olympic Oval is at 6111 River Road. For more information about Racket Rally go to www.racketrally.net.
