Former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat advanced to the second round of the Badminton World Championships with a 21-14, 21-14 win over Christian Boesiger of Switzerland Tuesday. The veteran Indonesian, winner of the 2004 Athens Olympics gold medal and the 2005 world championships winner, needed only 27 minutes to sweep past Boesiger in the first round. Ninth-seeded Yu Hsing-hseih of Taiwan had to struggle for a 21-14, 19-21, 24-22 win over local hope Arvind Bhat in an hour and two minutes. Japan's Kenichi Tago rallied for an upset 16-21, 21-14, 21-13 win over seventh-seeded Joachim Persson of Denmark. Park Sung-hwan, the No. 8 seed from South Korea, needed 55 minutes to oust Steinar Klausen of Norway 19-21, 21-13, 21-18, while No. 16 Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand held off Lithuania's Kestutis Navickas 21-14, 14-21, 21-17. Top-seeded Lee Chong Wei and defending world and Olympic champion Lin Dan advanced Monday. In women's singles, No. 9 Wang Chen of Hong Kong beat Taiwan's Chen Hsiao-huan 21-19, 21-10. No. 12 Hwang Hye-youn and No. 13 Pui Yin Yip also advanced. Swine flu scare A Malaysian coach was quarantined with swine flu symptoms at the World Badminton Championships Tuesday, while a doubles pair from Thailand pulled out of a match after one of them complained of fever. K. Subhakar, a government official, told reporters that a member of the Malaysian coaching staff had been admitted to the regional chest hospital after displaying H1N1 virus symptoms. A spokesman also said an unnamed doubles player from Thailand was taken to hospital later in the day. Hyderabad has so far recorded 76 positive cases. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) expressed confidence in the situation at India's first hosting of the championships. “We don't see any reason for any major concerns, but we have assured the players that we will manage the situation over the rest of the tournament and make sure that none of the players are in any danger,” BWF chief operating officer Thomas Lund told a news conference. “In the world today, this issue is not uncommon,” Lund added. “All the players travel on a weekly basis, they are facing these issues on a weekly basis in airports wherever they go. We have not received any particular concerns from any particular players.” ‘No more pullouts' The organizers of the badminton championships have dismissed reports that China was planning to pull out of the event over security concerns as England had on the eve of the tournament. “I have the entire BWF (Badminton World Federation) team with me. Nothing like that has come to our notice,” BWF vice president and Indian federation chief V.K. Verma said Tuesday.
