2012 Korea Open: Riyanto Subagja stuns Iskandar Zulkarnain to secure a quarter-final berth
Indonesia’s underrated shuttler Riyanto Subagja registered his presence in the Korea Grand Prix Gold by surging into round of eight of Men’s Singles event on Thursday, December 6, 2012.
He thrashed Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin in a pre quarter-final match by putting an overwhelming margin of 21-18 and 21-14.
This brief meeting took place in local badminton arena of Hwasun-gun, Korea where a decent number of spectators gathered to encourage both youngsters.
Both contenders entertained the crowd with a splendid show of skills for 40 minutes and earned a great deal of admiration for their honest efforts.
The battle heated up straight away in the beginning as Riyanto and Iskandar strived hard to gain an early advantage.
They stood toe-to-toe in the establishing rallies and did not allow each other to make a notable difference on the points table.
However, things got dramatically changed just before the one-minute break as the Malaysian campaigner made some fatal mistakes which ultimately cost him a valuable match point.
On the other hand, Riyanto capitalised his rival’s blunders and bagged few uninterrupted points to finish first half of the set with a respectable margin of 11.
The underrated Indonesian player showed great control over his craft and transformed his initial advantage into an unassailable lead.
Though, Iskandar ruled the court in couple of back-to-back rallies but his fluctuated performance proved the biggest hurdle in his way to success. He lost this crucial game with scoreboard flashing 18-21 total.
This first set loss proved a severe blow for the eighth seeded Malaysian player and he could not rise from the dust in second set.
Meanwhile, Riyanto showed an elevated craft and sealed a splendid straight-set victory on merit.
He raised his chances by making a swift progress on the points table and maintained that momentum to keep his challenger under control.
He played furiously and confined his competitor in the rear court with a flurry of power packed smashes in third quarter of the set.
Riyanto raised hands as victor after putting 21-14 margin and qualified for the quarter-finals where Dong Keun Lee of Korea will be waiting for him.
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