Badminton: Hidayat suffers birthday blues

LONDON: Former Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat suffered an oddly passive second-round defeat in what may well be the last world championship of a great career. The fourth-seeded Indonesian also spoiled his 30th birthday celebrations with an indifferent performance which culminated in a 21-17, 21-14 loss to Wong Zi Liang, a Singaporean ranked 49th in the world. Hidayat, as so often, tried to play large portions of the match in the forecourt and at the net, but his lifting to the back was predictable, and he looked leaden-footed and uninspired.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2011.