20 nations compete in Indonesia Open
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty countries, including China and South Korea, have confirmed their participation in the Sanyo Indonesia Open Badminton Championships to be held this month.
Secretary-general of The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) Chandra Wiranata told reporters on Monday that the number of participating countries had grown significantly compared to last year's tournament.
"This year's tournament is much better compared to last year's in Bali. China has skipped the Indonesia Open three times in a row while Korea has missed twice. Their participation will be an added value to the tournament," he said.
Other participants are Denmark, Sweden, England, the Netherlands, France, Wales, Switzerland, the United States, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Malaysia.
In the men's singles, world number one Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark has a good chance of collecting the title at the July 19 to July 23 championships at the Senayan Indoor Stadium.
Points gathered at the event will be counted by the International Badminton Federation to decide on shuttlers for the Olympics, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1.
World champion Sun Jun of China, whose ranking has been dropped since suffering a back injury last year, and youngster Chen Hong are expected to do well prior to the Olympic Games in Sydney in September.
South Koreans Lee Hyun-il and Park Tae-sang, who performed amazingly at the Thomas Cup championships in Kuala Lumpur in May, are among the opposition for Indonesian qualifiers Hendrawan, Marlev Mainaky and Taufik Hidayat.
In the women's singles, world champion Camilla Martin of Denmark also has a strong chance of grabbing the title as she will only face tough rivalry from Dutch Mia Audina, formerly an Indonesian shuttler, 1998 Asian Games gold medalist Kanako Yonekura of Japan and the 1998 Commonwealth Games winner Kelly Morgan of Wales.
Indonesian men's doubles Olympics qualifiers of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan; Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky; and Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian will face tough challenges from Denmark, Sweden and England.
Denmark will field Michael Sogaard and Jim Laugesen, and the world number four duo of Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen, while Sweden will still rely on the old partnerships of Peter Axelsson and Par-Gunnar Jonsson. England's Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson are names to watch out for at the event.
Last year, Indonesia netted four of five titles at stake in the men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles. Only the women's doubles title went to Denmark. (yan)