China on alert against Indonesia in Uber Cup final

HONG KONG (JP): China backed down on its pre-tournament boast heading into today's Uber Cup final against Indonesia, saying that both teams stand an equal chance of winning the coveted trophy.

China's head coach, Li Yongbo, predicted in a press conference yesterday that both his squad and Indonesia's would play a close match from start to finish.

The Uber Cup final will be aired on RCTI live today, starting from 18:30 Western Indonesia Time.

Another Chinese official, team manager Zhou Jincan, agreed, saying that Indonesia had emerged as a strong contender following its impressive 4-1 win over South Korea in Thursday's semifinals.

"Our 5-0 group win over them was unreal, because they were without trump card Susi Susanti," Zhou said.

"One match is different from another. We can't always rely on the results of a past match in formulating a new strategy. Who knows, perhaps Susi's absence was part of Indonesia's strategy in taking us on," Zhou said.

China carries a formidable Uber Cup record since its first appearance in the world women's team championship in 1984, winning the trophy a record five consecutive times. Indonesia denied China its sixth title with a dramatic 3-2 win in 1994. Both teams have met in the Cup final three times since 1986.

Indonesia's training director, Iwan Setiawan, admitted that his squad will be in comfortable mood at the final, thanks to its morale-boosting semifinal victory.

Both Iwan and Zhou agreed that the team, with first-string singles player wins, will have the better chance of winning.

Susi will renew her bitter rivalry against China's world No. 1 Ye Zhaoying in the opening match.

Susi has lost to Ye four times in the past 12 months, dating back from the Sudirman Cup mixed-team championship last May. The Indonesian last crashed to her old nemesis in the Japan Open final last January. Susi's only win came in the Taipei Masters final, also in January this year.

But Iwan said Susi has well-prepared herself for the final. "If Susi could beat Bang in the semifinals, why couldn't she beat Ye?" said Iwan.

Olympic gold medalist Susi shrugged off everyone's doubts about her fitness when she shot down South Korea's No. 1 Bang 11- 9, 11-0, clearing the way for Indonesia's passage to the final.

As for Indonesia's second doubles of Eliza and Zelin Resiana, Iwan believed that they, too, had chances of beating the world No. 1 partnership of Ge Fei and Gu Jun.

"In my opinion, South Korea's No. 1 pair of Gil Young-ah and Jang Hye-ock are better than Ge Fei and Gu Jun. So, if Eliza and Zelin can beat Gil and Jang 15-3, 17-16, why can't they beat Ge Fei and Gu Jun?" Iwan said.

Iwan, however, could no longer use his "if ... why not ...?" argument when confronted with the country's third singles players.

Iwan said that his third-string singles players, Yuliani Sentosa, Meiluawati and Lidya Djaelawidjaja, are not strong enough to match their Chinese opponents.

But Iwan kept his optimism alive. "Every player, I believe, always feels comfortable playing a certain opponent. Therefore, I will field players who are very comfortable playing China's third singles players." (arf)