Chong Wei ready for final warm-up

Lee Chong Wei has dominated the Badminton World Federation (BWF) world rankings and the OSIM BWF World Superseries rankings for the past four years, but he has yet to win two of the most important titles - the World Championships and Olympics.

He will get a chance to put that right this August when the World Championships are held in London, but first he will have to negotiate a tricky draw in the Djarum Indonesia Open Superseries Premier, the third Superseries Premier of the new OSIM BWF World Superseries calendar after the Victor South Korea Open and Yonex All England. The tournament offers US$600,000 in prize money.

The Malaysian, who skipped last week's Li Ning Singapore Open Superseries, is the defending champion in Indonesia. He beat local favorite Taufik Hidayat, a six-time winner of this event, in last year's final.

Chong Wei may have to beat three Chinese players - 2008 world junior champion Wang Zhengming, Chen Long and arch nemesis, Lin Dan - if he is to retain his title. The other players in this half of the draw are Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, Du Pengyu of China, Japan's Kenichi Tago, South Korean Lee Hyun-il, Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark and Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh.

The match-up everyone wants to see, however, is between Chong Wei and second seed Lin Dan, who many regard as the greatest player ever. The Chinese ace is a three-time world champion and reigning Olympic and Asian Games gold medallist.

For the local fans, the young but successful mixed doubles pairing of Tantowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir should give them plenty of cheers. Tantowi-Liliyana have won the last two Superseries tournaments in India and Singapore as well as the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold. They are seeded fourth but start off against a tough match against South Korea's Lee Yong Dae-Ha Jung Eun, whom they beat en route to winning in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Indonesians dominated play on Tuesday with nine of the 20 qualifiers to the main draw. In fact, all the qualifiers from the women's doubles - Ririn Amelia-Melati Daeva Oktaviani, Imawan Gebby Ristiyani-Nuraidah Tiara Rosalia, Komala Dewi-Jenna Gozali and Anneke Feinya Agustin-Nitya Krishinda Maheswari - are from the host nation.

Source : Badminton World Federation

Indonesia Open 2011 : Maria Febe Out!

The best women's singles of Indonesia, Maria Febe Kusumastuti, directly eliminated in the first round of Djarum Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011 on Wednesday, 22 June 2011. Maria Febe eliminated by Japanese, Ayane Kurihara, in the match which held at Istora Gelora Bung Karno. This PB Djarum player, just gave up in two games 13-21, 19-21 in 38 minutes.

The defeat also experienced by the men's singles, Tommy Sugiarto. Unfortunately, Tommy already met the top seed from Malaysia, Lee Chong Wei in the first round. The son of former world champion, Icuk Sugiarto was surrendered in straight-games 16-21, 8-21.

In mixed doubles, Nova Widianto-Vita Marissa also confronted with the top seed, Chinese's doubles Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei. Despite of winning experience, Nova-Vita could not offset the speed of Chinese doubles and lost by 13-21, 15-21.

Indonesia Open 2011 : Mixed Doubles Went to Second Round

Two mixed doubles of Indonesia, Fran Kurniawan-Pia Zebadiah Bernadet and Muhammad Rijal-Debby Susanto, must face each other in the second round of Djarum Indonesia Open Superseries Premier 2011.

Fran Kurniawan-Pia Zebadiah Bernadet went to the second round with sending out South Korea's pair Kim Ki Jung-Jung Kyung Eun 21-13, 21-18. While, Rijal-Debby also went to the second round after in the first round knocked out the seventh seeds, Songphon Anugritayawon-Kunchala Voravichitchaikul. The Thailand's pair retired in the first game when Rijal-Debby still leading by 11-3.

Both pairs have been meet at Vietnam Open Grand Prix Gold 2009, where Fran-Pia won against Rijal-Debby in straight-game 21-12, 21-19. The best mixed doubles of Indonesia, Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir also passed through the first round. As the fourth seeds in this tournament, Tontowi-Liliyana sent out the other South Korea's pair Lee Yong Dae-Ha Jung Eun by 21-17, 21-14.

U-KISS in Malaysia : An Energetic Showmanship

U-KISS was recently in Malaysia for the "Bran New Kiss Album Showcase 2011" which was held at the main entrance of Pavilion Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, June 10. The U-KISS "Bran New Kiss Album Showcase 2011" was jointly organized by Redstar and Marctensia.

Fans started gathering around 4PM to get the best spot for this free event. Fans from Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia came as they didn't want to miss the opportunity to meet U-KISS.

The show started at 7:30PM with opening performances by two local singers Ir Radzi and Iqwal singing their popular hits. After the last song, the atmosphere started to change with fans screaming for U-KISS. They also brought along handmade placards and signs and various gifts to give to the boys.

The boys went up to the stage and introduced themselves, greeting the fans, and began to talk with the MC. They were happy to come to Malaysia for the second time and said that Malaysian fans looked much prettier. They also said they love to eat Malaysian food such as satay, chicken and nasi lemak. The fans surprised the boys by saying I Love You in Korean and Malay.

The first activity was Q&A. The boys read the questions written by fans and they chose seven fans to come up to stage. Soo Hyun was asked to serenade a lucky girl and he sang "I Can't" by 4Men. Eli was asked to say "I love you" to a fan, bringing envy to other fans that were watching. Dong Ho was asked about his favorite game on iPad and he said he likes to play Kart Rider and Angry Bird. He said that playing games is better than sleep. AJ was asked who sleeps the most in the group and he answered it was Dong Ho. Well, this is understandble since Dong Ho had busy schedules lately. The lucky fans received autographed posters from the boys too.

For the second activity they had a dance session. U-Kiss selected seven fans to dance to "Man Man Ha Ni" on the spot. The best three dancers were selected by the boys and they danced to "Bing Gul Bing Gul". The lucky winner got to take a polaroid photo with U-Kiss and she also received a group hug from them.

Next, was a birthday surprise for AJ and Dong Ho, as June is their birthday month. Fans brought a birthday cake and the birthday boys blew up the candle on stage. There was also a scholarship ceremony where U-Kiss presented a cheque for RM30,000 to representatives of the Salvation Army and the Sri Ramakrishna Ashram Orphanage of Malacca. Residents of the children's home were also in the audience that night to see the boys perform. It was part of Daorae Restaurant charity drive.

After that they performed four songs of their hits songs: "0330," "Bing Gul Bing Gul," "Shut Up" and "Man Man Ha Ni." Although they were drenched in sweat due to the hot local weather, they managed to go all out, showing their dancing and singing skills. Fans also sang along and chanted together to give support and encouragement to the boys.

They ended the show with handshakes and an autograph session. Before they said goodbye to Malaysia fans, Kiseop mentioned that they wanted to come back again to Malaysia for a full concert. With their warm and friendly personalities, U-KISS was very well received by the crowd.

Source : SOOMPI

SS501's Kim Hyun Joong Decorates Front Page of Indonesian Newspaper

On June 18th, SS501's Kim Hyun Joong was in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the "Fantastic KPOP Festival," along with 2AM, miss A, San-E, Lee Hyun of 8eight, and JOO. On the following day, Indonesian newspaper, the "Sunday Post" wrote an article about the stellar performances and placed a large photo of Kim Hyun Joong on its front page.

A representative of the production company behind the concert in Indonesia stated, "Kim Hyun Joong is tremendously popular in Indonesia. Despite other kpop artists present, the fact that Kim Hyun Joong's photo made it to the front page of the local media is proof of his explosive popularity." A representative of S Plus Entertainment announced, "Kim Hyun Joong has a lot of fans in Indonesia. We repeatedly get love calls for concerts."

Meanwhile, Kim Hyun Joong is busy preparing for his concerts in Hong Kong and Taiwan, held on July 17th and 24th respectively.

Source : SOOMPI