Badminton feast opens in Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Thomas and Uber Cups kicked off here on Friday with
\nIndonesia's women taking on defending champion China in an
\nseemingly unlikely bid by the host to regain the trophy it last
\nwon in 1996.<\/p>\n
However, there was good news for the championships when the
\nIBF appearing to accede to the demands of TV stations not having
\nrights to broadcast the events that they be allowed to broadcast
\nmore of the games. The U-turn by the IBF came following a threat
\nby the TV stations concerned that they would boycott the
\ntournament.<\/p>\n
Twenty four teams -- 12 each in the Thomas and Uber Cups --
\nfrom 16 countries will be battling it out for world badminton
\nglory until May 16 at the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium.<\/p>\n
The participating countries are Australia, Canada, China,
\nChinese Taipei, Denmark, England, Germany, Indonesia, Japan,
\nMalaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, South
\nAfrica, Thailand and the United States.<\/p>\n
There will be four matches in the Thomas Cup and four matches
\nin the Uber Cup on Friday.<\/p>\n
With the best field of players in the world, China's women are
\nclear favorites over the Indonesians in Group A, and in the
\ntournament as a whole, to retain the trophy for fourth time after
\ntaking it from Indonesia in 1998.<\/p>\n
\"It will be difficult to defeat China,\" Indonesian team
\nmanager Christian Hadinata said here on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Other matches in the Uber Cup are Japan against Malaysia in
\nGroup Y, Chinese Taipei against South Africa in Group X and South
\nKorea against Canada in Group Z.<\/p>\n
The Thomas Cup's opening matches will pit four-time champion
\nChina against the United States, and South Korea against New
\nZealand in Group B, five-time champion Malaysia against South
\nAfrica in Group C and Denmark against England in Group D.<\/p>\n
Indonesia will open its campaign to take a record sixth
\nchampionship in a row against the United States on Saturday, when
\nthe host will face a potentially emotional clash against Tony
\nGunawan, a former Indonesian Olympic star now playing for the
\nvisitors.<\/p>\n
Tony and Candra Wijaya earned Indonesia a gold medal at the
\n2000 Olympics.<\/p>\n
While the women have painted themselves grim prospects, their
\nmale compatriots have been encouraged after winning two titles at
\nthe recent Asian Championship in Kuala Lumpur, with Taufik
\nHidayat and Sony Dwi Kuncoro managing to set up an all Indonesia
\nfinal.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the IBF looks set to soften its stance over
\ntournament coverage by allowing boycotting TV stations to take
\npictures inside the hall.<\/p>\n
G. Sulistyanto, the chairman of the organizing body, said that
\nIBF understood the demand from the seven broadcasters, who had
\ncomplained about excessive restrictions imposed by the IBF on
\ntheir coverage, and would provide a special stall for their
\ncameras.<\/p>\n
However, the stall would be situated at a certain spot and the
\nTV stations would have to take turns in filming, he said after a
\nmeeting with senior IBF officials Punch Gunalan, Andrew Ryan and
\nKeith Hawthorne late on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Earlier representatives from ANTV, Indosiar, Lativi, RCTI,
\nSCTV, TV7 and TPI met with Ishadi S.K. from host broadcaster
\nTransTV. After the meeting, they then filed their demand with the
\nIBF.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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