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.