Gopichand advances, Abhinn loses

India's badminton ace Pulella Gopichand strolled into the second round in the men's singles Asian Games badminton tournament, beating Francisco Yong of East Timor 15-0, 15-0 on Thursday.

However, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, the other Indian in the draw, crashed out, losing to Hendrawan of Indonesia 5-15, 5-15 in a first round match.

In the second round, which will be played tomorrow, Gopichand takes on Thai player Boonsak Ponsana, who got a bye in the first round, in the pre-quarters.

Yesterday, Indonesia staged an extraordinary two-hour boycott of the men's team badminton final after angrily accusing host judges of bias in favour of opponents South Korea.

The gold medal match exploded into controversy in the opening rubber, when a string of questionable decisions went against Indonesia's top player Taufik Hidayat in his duel with Shon Seung-Mo.

With Hidayat trailing 13-15 9-12, a smash from the Indonesian was called out even though replays later showed it had dropped inside the line by at least two inches.

A disgusted Hidayat threw his racquet to the floor and stormed from the court without returning as Indonesia's management remonstrated angrily with tournament officials.

"We felt there were some deliberate bad calls and Hidayat didn't want to play so we have lodged a protest with the referee," Indonesian manager Christian Hadinata said.

There followed a two-hour break as attempts were made to persuade the Indonesians to resume.

Chief referee Boon Kong Ee of Singapore suggested continuing the tie with four neutral umpires acting as line judges or by giving the chair umpire the power to over-rule line calls.

South Korea objected to both suggestions however, and the match only resumed - with the same officials - after a two-hour suspension with the disputed point called a let.

Hidayat lost the match as Korea went on to take the gold, winning the tie 3-1.