Alan misses

Alan misses
Thomas Cup
finals slot

JAKARTA (JP): Olympic gold medalist Alan Budikusuma's hopes of
making his third appearance at the Thomas Cup were dashed, while
teenager Mia Audina will make an Uber Cup women's championship
debut.

The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) picked Olympic
bronze medalist Hermawan Susanto as the reserve singles player
instead of Alan for a team made up also of world's top three
singles: Joko Suprianto, Ardy Wiranata and Hariyanto Arbi.

Soerjadi, PBSI chairman, said upon announcing the Indonesian
Thomas Cup and Uber Cup lineups on Saturday that Hermawan had
managed to keep his performance steady.

Both the Thomas and Uber Cups finals will be staged at the
Senayan indoor stadium from May 10 to 21.

Alan will enter the finals as the team's assistant along with
national doubles player Danny Kantono. Alan led the Indonesian
team in the 1990 meet and played second singles in the country's
2-3 final defeat to Malaysia two years ago.

Hermawan, who will wear the national colors at the
championship finals for the third consecutive time, capped his
1993 performances with only one title, in Hong Kong. He reached
the semifinal at the All England, only to lose to Ardy. Hermawan
played a pivotal role in producing an All Indonesian final at the
1992 Olympics and the world championships last year.

The Thomas Cup doubles lineup includes All England champions
Rudy Gunawan and Bambang Suprianto, no relationship to Joko, and
their runner-ups Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja. Veteran doubles
specialist Eddy Hartono was named the substitute.

With 15-year-old Mia, who stole a set before going down to
China's Ye Zhaoying in last month's All England, staying on the
bench, world champion Susi Susanti, Yuliani Sentosa and Yuni
Kartika form the nucleus of Indonesia's Uber Cup singles squad.

Lili Tampi, Finarsih, Eliza and Zelin Resiana will make up the
doubles contingent, with another veteran, Rosiana Tendean, taking
the team's reserve slot.

"Those are our best teams which are expected to live up to our
long-time dream of unifying both coveted trophies," said
Soerjadi. China has been the only country to produce a double,
doing so three times in a row from 1986-1988.

Soerjadi also against arguments on the final lineups. "The
players were chosen through deliberations involving coaches, PBSI
officials and players," he said without elaborating on the
standards used for selection.

Malaysia

Meanwhile, Malaysia named an extra ordinary squad with three
doubles players powering its Thomas Cup title defense campaign.
Rashid Sidek will lead the holders made up also of singles
shuttlers Ong Ewe Hock and Asian champion Foo Kok Keong, and
doubles specialists Cheah Soon Kit, Soo Beng Kiang, Razif and
brother Jaelani Sidek, Tan Kim Her and Yap Kim Hock.

"It is part of our strategy to retain the Thomas Cup and it
will be a surprise to the opponents," Badminton Association of
Malaysia (BAM) president Abdullah Fadzil Che Wan said.

Finalists are allowed to register up to nine players for the
biennial tournament which will contest three singles and two
doubles matches. Usually, each team enrolls four singles
specialists and five doubles players.

Former champion China picked world junior champion Sun Jun to
back up Liu Jun, Dong Jiong and Xie Yangchun in the singles. Chen
Hoyong and Chen Kang spearheaded the doubles team which included
Huang Zhanghong, Jiang Xin and Yu Qi. (amd)