China on alert against Indonesia in Uber Cup final

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)