All England results mediocre, Budi may join Thomas Cup squad

All England results mediocre, Budi may join Thomas Cup squad

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) lamented the
failure of its men's shuttlers to grab any title from the
US$125,000 All England tournament, which ended last Sunday in
Birmingham, England.

Indonesia's best performance in the prestigious four-star
event was through men's singles finalist, Budi Santoso, although
he was no match for the eventual champion, Chen Hong of China.

"The result was disappointing because we should have grabbed a
title. But that was the best our shuttlers could have done,
considering their condition," PBSI chairman Chairul Tanjung told
reporters on Monday.

"But we were surprised that Budi reached the final stage. It
was be a credit to him to be in final team for the Thomas Cup
finals round," he added.

PBSI opted not to send its women's shuttlers to All England,
including mixed doubles pairs, after the Asian/Oceania qualifying
round for women's team Uber Cup later last month in Melbourne,
Australia.

In addition to Budi, Indonesia only put Marlev Mainaky, Johan
Hadikusuma, Rony Agustinus and juniors Adriansyah and Sony Dwi
Kuncoro in the singles.

Three pairs of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto; Halim
Heryanto and Nova Widhianto; and old hands Bambang Suprianto and
Tri Kusheryanto were in the men's doubles.

PBSI did not field Hendrawan due to illness, and banned Taufik
Hidayat following his move to Singapore. PBSI has requested that
the Singaporean Badminton Association (SBA) pay the transfer fee.

SBA has yet to agree on the transfer fee on the grounds that
Taufik is no longer Indonesian national shuttler since he
resigned from the Indonesian Badminton Center (PBI).

First seeds and event favorites Candra and Sigit failed to
grab the title after falling to eventual winners Ha Tae-kwon and
Kim Dong-moon in their semifinals encounter, which was dubbed as
the real final in men's doubles. Candra and Sigit were defeated
7-2, 6-8, 7-8, 7-4, 7-8 after an 80-minute match.

Halim and Nova were stopped in the third round by the Danish
duo of Jesper Larsen and Jim Laugesen who scored a 2-7, 8-7, 7-5,
6-8, 8-6 victory.

Another Danish pair of Jesper Christensen and Thomas Laybourn
also became the stumbling block which thwarted Bambang and Tri
from advancing to the third round.

The Danes won 7-3, 8-7, 3-7, 3-7, 7-3.

In the men's singles, Adriansyah was eliminated early in the
qualifying round, while Sony gave his best shot before falling
victim 5-7, 3-7, 7-4, 7-3, 5-7 to former Indonesian shuttler Agus
Harianto, who now plays for Hong Kong.

Johan should have taken some of the examples from his juniors
to heart when he was soundly beaten 2-7, 3-7, 1-7 by Malaysian
Muhammad Roslin Hashim in just 30 minutes of a markedly
uninspiring match.

Marlev could only reach the third round before being beaten 2-
7, 3-7, 7-2, 1-7 by South Korean Shon Seung-mo. Rony also failed
to secure his quarter-finals berth when he was defeated 0-7, 2-7,
2-7 by Lin Dan in another unexciting match.