All champs to defend Grand Prix titles

JAKARTA (JP): The organizers of the Lipton World Grand Prix Badminton Finals in Denpasar, Bali, must be very relieved as all the defending champions have agreed to defend their titles.

Indonesia's Joko Suprianto, Ye Zhaoying of China, Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia, China's Ge Fei/Gu Jun and Trikus Heryanto/Minarti Timur of Indonesia are to try to regain their titles, which were won in last year's finals in Singapore.

National male shuttlers Hermawan Susanto, Alan Budi Kusuma and juniors Budi Santoso and Indra Wijaya are listed among the participants at the US$350,000 championships, which takes place from Dec. 4 to Dec. 8 at the Yuwana Mandala Stadium, Denpasar.

Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, Chinese Dong Jiong and Malaysian veteran Rashid Sidek are seen as the country's shuttlers' toughest rivals.

In the women's singles, national badminton queen Susi Susanti, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist; Mia Audina, Olympic silver medalist, and world-ranked-ninth Meluawati are listed among the participants.

Five-time winner Susi, who won her first World Grand Prix Final in 1990 in Bali, is expected to regain another title here. But she has to overcome Dane Camilla Martin and Chinese shuttlers Wang Chen and Zhang Ning.

Olympic gold medalists Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia are expected to be able to overcome the challenge of old rivals Cheah/Yap.

Badminton fans expect the two pairs to meet again in the final and perform their best, as they did in the Olympic final.

Compatriots Antonius/Denny Kantono, Tony Gunawan/Rudy Wijaya and Chandra Wijaya/Sigit are seen as their toughest opponents.

In the women's doubles, Indonesia's best hope Eliza may miss the tournament due to her measles. She qualified for the tournament with partner Zelin Resiana. Juniors Indarti Isolina/Deyana Lomban have also qualified.

The Indonesian pairs are due to challenge Olympic gold medalists Chinese Ge/Gu and Helene Kirkeegard/Rikke Olsen of Denmark.

Indonesia's mixed doubles Trikus/Minarti see compatriots Flandy Limpele/Risyeu Rosalina and Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen of Denmark as their toughest rivals.

The tournament will be beamed to Asian countries by Star TV. (yan)