China, Indonesia both confident of Thomas Cup

China, Indonesia both confident of Thomas Cup

By Primastuti Handayani

KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Indonesia and China, the two candidates for
the Thomas Cup, both expressed confidence in winning Sunday's
final at the Putra Indoor Stadium.

Defending champion Indonesia, aiming to win the cup for the
12th time, will be very careful in fielding its shuttlers in the
final encounter, after sweating it out to defeat European
dynamite Denmark 3-2 in Friday's semifinals.

Deputy team manager Hadi Nazri said on Friday: "We have the
chance to win the cup, but Sunday will be the climax for the
toughest matches. I just hope our shuttlers performance can be
more relaxed, instead of being very tensed like tonight. I
believe they have intensified their fighting spirit and
motivation to take the trophy home."

The Indonesian squad is hoping to repeat the excellent
performance of their predecessors, the seven magnificent -- Rudy
Hartono, Christian Hadinata, Ade Chandra, Liem Swie King, Tjun
Tjun, Johan Wahyudi and Iie Sumirat -- who retained the cup for
four consecutive times during the 1970s.

On the other hand, Chinese head coach Li Yongbo, a former
double ace, said: "We feel very confident about the final,
especially after seeing my boys play so well against South
Korea."

China thrashed South Korea 3-1 in Thursday's semifinals.

Both China and Indonesia met in the round-robin yellow group
match, when China opted to put first singles Xia Xuanze, world
number seven, on the bench. Indonesia managed to win 4-1.

On Sunday, China is likely to put its ace in the first match
against Hendrawan. Xia has a 2-0 lead over Hendrawan, as he beat
the 27-year-old Indonesian in the All England and Swiss Open in
March.

Hendrawan said: "I have only a one-day break to prepare for
Sunday's final against Xia. I've lost to him twice but it has
motivated me to take revenge."

The second singles match will see teenage sensation Taufik
Hidayat face world number eight Ji Xinpeng.

"I have never met Ji but I will take revenge on any player I
face in the final as I lost to Xia in the All England final."

"I think Ji played better than Xia as his technical skills are
better. But I play much better in a team event, as I learned from
my experiences in the Sudirman Cup, the Asian Games and the
Southeast Asian Games. I may have more experience and I'll try my
best," said the world number five Indonesian.

The stylish Marlev Mainaky, world number six, is expected to
meet Lou Yigang in the third singles match. It will be their
first match, but regarding Marlev's performance here, he is
hoping to be able to overcome the Chinese number nine.

Optimistic

Li said he was optimistic one of his doubles, especially the
second of Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun, would be able to steal one
point from Indonesia, which had been recognized as a dominant
power in doubles.

In the group match, Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja, world
number seven, had to bow out to number 11, Zhang and Zhang.

Should Indonesia field the same line-up it used when it faced
Denmark, its team manager Sumaryono must be able to speak to both
Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto, the 1997 world champion, whose
performance on Friday was still far from satisfaction.

Candra and Sigit were very close to victory but spoiled their
chance before finally losing to Danish Jens Eriksen and Jesper
Larsen 15-8, 15-17, 16-17.

If Sumaryono manages to overcome the two boys psychological
barrier, especially in critical points, they could be the perfect
choice to contest Zhang and Zhang.

The first doubles are likely to see Rexy Mainaky and Tony
Gunawan face Yu Jinhao and Chen Qiqiu.