Published>Thu, Aug 26 10 01:17 AM
Ex-world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat survived a second round scare at the world badminton championships on Wednesday, dropping the opening game before beating Yu Hsin Hsieh of Taiwan 19-21 21-19 21-9.
Second seed Peter Gade of Denmark also struggled before seeing off South Korea's Shon Wan-ho 25-23 7-21 21-18.
Hidayat's victory was an important one for Indonesia who lost out when Simon Santoso, seeded eight, had to pull out of his match with a back injury.
The blow follows the absence of sixth seeded Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro who withdrew before the tournament started, also with a back injury.
Hidayat, Olympic champion in 2004, told reporters: "I felt under pressure in the first set but I was more assured in the second."
But the Indonesian had to fight hard later in the second when Hsieh came back to win five points in a row to make it 19-19.
"He scared me but I knew then I just had to win it," Hidayat said.
"Although it is my second match here, I still have some problem getting adjusted to the court conditions.
Lin Dan of China, bidding to win the world title for a record fourth time in succession, trailed 6-1 in the second set against unseeded Swede Henri Hurskainen before restoring order to win 21-13 21-15.
World number one Lee Chong Wei negotiated a potentially tricky clash with Malaysian compatriot Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, a former All England champion, running out a comfortable 21-16 21-16 winner.
There was a fright in the women's singles for India's second seed Saina Nehwal playing her first match in the tournament after a first-round bye.
Nehwal dropped the first set against unseeded Taiwanese Hsiao Huan Chen before regaining control to win 20-22 21-15 21-8 in 47 minutes.
"It was not easy getting into gear as the last I played on this courts was on Sunday. So the three-day wait was bound to affect me in some ways," Nehwal said.
A near capacity crowd of around 4,000 gave huge home support to France's Chinese-born woman player Pi Hongyan.
The fifth seed duly obliged with an easy 21-8 21-8 success over unseeded Elena Prus from Ukraine.
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