Alan's victory saves the day for Indonesia

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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