Taufik mesmerises Shon for gold

 

Athens, 21 April 2004:

INDONESIAN Taufik Hidayat created a masterpiece that might rival some of the great works of art, using his racquet like a magic wand to make Shon Seung Mo seem more like an accomplice than a rival in the gold medal match.

Was there a more beautiful display of badminton in recent history? Poor Shon, reduced to a spectator, might, in years to come, feel lucky to have played Taufik, even if he lost. For there was no shame in losing such a match; it was beyond winning and losing, for there was only one man's performance which counted: Taufik Hidayat's.

Little did anyone know what was in store when he went 0-7 down in the first game. From then on it was pure artistry as the Indonesian toyed with the South Korean to knock off 15 straight points.

In the second game, again, Shon hassled to get 3-0 ahead, using his speed and smash. But he made a mistake on a backhand kill to give Taufik serve... and that was it. The Taufik roadshow began once more.

Perhaps the point that killed Shon's challenge was at 5-3. Shon threw everything at the Indonesian, big smashes, but it just kept coming back. After that, it was an array of flicked returns, delicate drops, dribbles that were coaxed over the net, as Shon desperately fell short of everything.

The Korean's big weapon was his smash, and at times, the Indonesian let him try it, as if to test his own defence. Shon pounded the half-chances he got, but Taufik stood in the centre, directing the play. The only blemish was a tricky double shot that Shon played at the net, which left him stranded.

Matchpoint came with the same delicate precision. Shon launched a big smash, the same that had ripped through so many fancied opponents, but Taufik calmly dropped it on the return.

Gold medal came with a jump smash, a fitting end to a memorable show that took 44 minutes. One could only feel wistful that it had to end sometime. Even Shon must have felt that way. The score, incidentally, was 15-8, 15-7.

Indonesia's Soni Dwi Kuncoro took bronze on the same day, defeating Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 15-11 17-16 in the men's singles.
Kuncoro won the first game of his match with a killer smash after staging a fightback from 5-10 down. He fell to the ground in delight after Ponsana's final shot landed out to secure victory in a tense closing phase of the second game.

Despite the result, Ponsana gave a good account of himself right through, beating Ronald Susilo of Singapore in the quarterfinals. Susilo had earlier beaten favourite Lin Dan in the first round. The other favourite, Chen Hong, was beaten by Shon Seung Mo in the quarters. Taufik accounted for Gade, also in the quarters.

INDIAN PERFORMANCE

The Indian challenge in badminton came to an end with Nikhil Kanetkar going down in the second round on Tuesday. Kanetkar went down to sixth seed Peter Gade of Denmark 10-15, 6-15.

The 25-year-old Indian, who had defeated Sergio Llopis of Spain in the opening round, made a valiant attempt to make a match of it against the Dane but never really threatened the former world champion.

Knowing that his opponent was an aggressive player, the Indian concentrated on deep tosses and the strategy did pay dividends in the opening half of the first game as Kanetkar pulled to 10-all.

Gade stepped up the tempo with crosscourt smashes and brilliant net play to race to a 14-5 lead in the second. The Indian didn't help his own cause with some erratic play.
Kanetkar did manage to frustrate Gade as serve changed hands but the Dane wrapped up the tie when the overhead toss of the Indian went long.

The other two Indians in the fray - national women's champion Aparna Popat and Abhinn Shyam Gupta - had bowed out on the second day of the competition.
Popat lost to Mia Audina of the Netherlands 11-9, 1-11, 3-11 while Gupta failed to cross the first round hurdle in his maiden appearance in the quadrennial event and went down to Park Tae Sang of Korea 12-15, 0-15 on Monday.

Aparna Popat pulled out all the tricks in her bag but found to her dismay that Mia Audina could counter them all. The Indian champion was more than a match for the favoured Dutchwoman in the first game, using her accuracy and deception to force the pace on Audina in a 11-9 win.

But she eventually lost steam as the pace told on her, and lost 11-9, 1-11, 3-11 in 43 minutes to exit in the second round of the women's singles.

"She's a very fine player and was too good today," admitted Aparna after the defeat. "She has got lot of strokes and variations. This is the third time I am playing her, and earlier two matches were one-sided. This time I at least managed to win a game."

Audina, who shifted allegiance from Indonesia to Holland a few years back, asserted herself in the second game. Try as she did, the Indian could not match the skills of the Dutch ace, who pocketed the game in just seven minutes. The final game too was a cakewalk for Audina, with a tiring Aparna unable to make any impact.

(Dev S Sukumar)