Budi not included in Asiad singles
JAKARTA (JP): Newly crowned Hong Kong Open men's singles champion Budi Santosa saw his dreams of playing in the individual event at the Asian Games go up in smoke on Monday.
National badminton training center director Christian Hadinata told The Jakarta Post that it would be impossible to register Budi for the individual event because the Games organizers closed the deadline for entries on Nov. 6.
"Budi will be allowed to play in the individual event only as an alternate. But so far there has been no reason to drop one of our two men's singles hopefuls," Christian said.
The Badminton Association of Indonesia has named world number five Hendrawan and number 18 Taufik Hidayat for the men's singles event as part of a strategy. Budi will play the second singles match in the men's team event and team up with Meiluawati in the mixed doubles.
Budi joined the Asian Games team as a replacement of Marlev Mainaky who withdrew after aggravating a knee injury.
On Sunday Budi beat world number 10 Chen Gang of China 15-10, 15-10 to win the Hong Kong Open, his first title on the Grand Prix badminton circuit.
Indonesia added a second title when men's doubles team of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan clinched their first title since joining up three months ago by beating Denmark's Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen 15-10, 15-9.
Christian said he expected Budi to increase his world ranking as a result of his victory, so that he could ply as the second singles choice in the men's team event.
While ruling out Budi's chances of playing in the individual event, Christian hoped that the rising star could still motivate himself to play his best at the Asian Games.
"He should at least perform as well as when he won the Hong Kong Open. He has great skills that enable him to beat either attack-minded or defensive-prone opponents," he said.
Christian insisted that Budi should improve his physical fitness for both the Asiad and the sake of his future career.
"He's still 23, He still has a lot of time to improve his physical condition. I believe his type of playing will help him stay at the top of the world for a long time," Christian said.
On the men's doubles event, Christian said the new team of Candra and Tony had a great chance to win the gold medal following their Hong Kong Open success.
"They beat a world class duo en route to title in Hong Kong. Hopefully, they can play much better at the Asiad," Christian said.
"Among Asia's young doubles teams, Candra and Toni are still the best. They must only be aware of South Korean tandem of Ha Tae-kwon and Kang Kyung-jin," he added.
Indonesia will also field world number one pair and the 1996 Olympic gold medalists Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky in the men's doubles event. (yan)