Alan's victory saves the day for Indonesia

By Arif Suryobuwono

HONG KONG (JP): Alan Budikusuma was Indonesia's toast of the town after denying what would otherwise have been China's 3-2 win on the first day of the Thomas Cup men's team badminton championship finals here yesterday.

All the country's hopes were piled on Alan's shoulders after Indonesia and China tied 2-2 in three hours and 15 minutes of emotional drama, which saw world No. 1 Joko Suprianto fall 15-10, 7-15, 8-15 to Dong Jiong and world champion Hariyanto Arbi 15-8, 7-15, 5-15 to Sun Jun.

Indonesia equalized twice through the world No. 2 doubles pair of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, who beat Jiang Xin and Huang Zhanzhong 15-6, 15-5 and the world No. 5 partnership of Antonius Irianto and Deny Kantono, who disposed of Liu Jianjun and Liu Yong 15-7, 15-11 in 28 minutes.

Alan's hard-earned 14-17, 15-3, 18-15 win in the cliff-hanger over younger contender Lin mirrored his glory as the 1992 Barcelona Olympic gold medalist.

"I was at the point of losing my strength, but I managed to bear it `till the end," said the 28-year-old, whose heyday had begun to fade in 1994. He even failed to make the list in Indonesia's 1994 campaign at home.

"The third set was quite awkward for me. His overhead cross smashes were extremely dangerous. They always fell near my court's alley," Alan said. Alan added that fought off the must- win pressure by constantly reminding himself that Liwen has never beaten him. "This is my fourth win over him," a smiling Alan said proudly.

Alan's coach, Tong Sin Fu, summarized Alan's win with just one word: "all-out." "Never before have I seen him playing so daring, so all-out like this time," Tong said.

Tong added that he sensed Alan's diminishing stamina in the decider, which saw Liwen turning Alan's comfortable 10-3 lead to a 13-13 setting. "We are lucky that Alan won," training director Iwan Setiawan commented. Iwan said that Alan, due to his age, was more mature now. His victory proved he had very good self- control. Liwen always played it low and Alan answered it by limiting his attacks.

Commenting on China's strong singles, Joko's coach -- Triadji -- said that China's singles were indeed on the rise. "But no other world pairs compare to our doubles," he added.

For Dong, his win over aging Joko was the first. It cut Joko's winning streak to 3-1. Last year, Joko beat Jiong in the world Grand Prix finals in December, in the Singapore Open in July and the world championships in Lausanne, Switzerland in May.

Dong said he smarted from his first-set loss to read Joko's playing style. "In the second set, I was convinced I would beat him," said the 23-year-old, who was surprised that he could upset Joko.

Joko, on the other hand, said that headwinds forced him to play erratically. Despite the loss, however, Joko said he was still confident of his world No. 1 ranking.

World champion Hariyanto Arbi said of his third successive loss to Sun: "The sun will still shine tomorrow. My strategy was not solid."

Indonesia's head coach, Indra Gunawan, looked very upset and said that Hariyanto should have been more daring in applying his deadly smashes.

Sun, on the other hand, said that he was very much convinced he would win even before the game began. "I know that his powerful weapon is his smashes. That's why I always direct the bird to the corners so that he has no chance of applying them," said the 21-year-old Chinese.

"Arbi also lacks patience. It makes it easier for me to outpoint him," the Chinese added.

In Group B action, Malaysia's world No. 7, Rashid Sidek, fell 10-15, 9-15 to South Korea's world No. 5, Park Sung-woo. The loss was made worse when Malaysia's world No. 1 duo of Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock lost 11-15, 9-15 to South Korea's old and young partnership of Park Joo Bong and Kim Dong Moon.

Results

Indonesia bt China 3-2 Sweden bt England 4-1 Denmark bt Hong Kong 5-0 S. Korea bt Malaysia 3-2

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