RI women's pair given modest target at JVC tourney<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post<\/p>\n
JAKARTA: Indonesia's number one women's pairing of Jo Novita and
\nLita Nurlita have been given the target of simply reaching the
\nsemifinals of the JVC Asia badminton championship in Jakarta, a
\nteam official says.<\/p>\n
The US$150,000 tournament, which suffers from the absence of
\nthe top Chinese players, starts Tuesday with six days of
\ncompetition at the Bung Karno indoor tennis courts.<\/p>\n
Jo and Lita will likely face a tough challenge from Zeng
\nYagiong\/Dai Yun in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
"If they can overcome the Chinese pair in the quarterfinals,
\nit will have been a job already accomplished," Paulus Firman, a
\ntrainer of the women's doubles, was quoted by Antara as saying
\nhere on Monday.<\/p>\n
Paulus said that the toughest opposition would likely come
\nfrom Lee Hyo-jung\/Hwang Yu-mi in the semifinals. The South Korean
\npair beat the Indonesians in last week's Denmark Open and last
\nyear's Dutch Open.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, their male compatriots are more optimistic with
\nFlandy Limpele\/Eng Hian, who won the Denmark Open, being favored
\nto advance to the finals.<\/p>\n
The younger pairing of Luluk Hadiyanto\/Alven Yulianto will be
\ncontent with a place in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
"Strong rivalry will certainly come from Korea," coach Heri
\nIman Pierngadi said.<\/p>\n
China is most likely to have continued its domination with the
\nplayers ranked as they are currently. However, with the
\ntournament providing no world ranking points, they seem far from
\nbeing interested in participating.<\/p>\n
The International Badminton Federation has ruled that because
\nthere will be two Asian championships within the qualifying
\nperiod for the 2004 Olympics, it is the April, 2004 Asian
\ntournament that will count for the world rankings.<\/p>\n
The late withdrawal of some Chinese participants, which was
\ndone after the draw was completed, would mean fines were issued,
\nsaid Sulistyanto, the chairman of the organizing committee.<\/p>\n
Those players include world champion Xia Xuanze and Chen Yu in
\nthe men's singles, Zhou Mi and Indonesia Open winner Xie Xinfang
\nin the women's singles, Cheng Rui and Wang Wei in the men's
\ndoubles and Chen Lin and Jiang Xuelian, and Zhang Yawen and Zhang
\nDan in the women's doubles.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's Candra Wijaya\/Halim Haryanto, and Sigit
\nBudiarto\/Tri Kusharyanto also canceled their participation but
\nhad done so before the draw was completed and therefore would not
\nbe fined.<\/p>\n
Sulistyanto said the tournament would also see a farewell
\nceremony for former star Hendrawan, who announced his retirement
\nfrom badminton last week.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-womens-pair-given-modest-target-at-jvc-tourney-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}