China to field best team against Indonesia
COPENHAGEN (JP): Chinese coach Tong Sin Fu said China would not risk losing its chance and would field its strongest team against archrival Indonesia in their Group A match at the Sudirman Cup mixed badminton team championships on Wednesday.
"We will pick our strongest players, and we have enough options in some of the categories to beat Indonesia. China stands a bigger chance of winning, although it is not 100 percent certain," said Tong, who formerly coached Indonesian players, including 1995 world champion Hariyanto Arbi.
But Tong refused to unveil his team's possible line-up for clash with Indonesia. "We'll see who's ready for the match in the last training," he said.
Head coach Li Yongbo concurred, saying that he would decide the lineup based on the players' conditions after Tuesday's practice and the results for Group B.
"We might not field the same players as today because we have many strong players," he said.
Tong predicted that Indonesia would win the men's doubles as it had four pairs who are ranked in the top four.
He rated China's odds to take the women's singles and doubles at 60-40, and the men's singles and mixed doubles at 50-50.
Indonesia's deputy team manager, Christian Hadinata, expected some of China's top players to play on Wednesday, which will serve as a warmup for the semifinals on Friday.
He named women's doubles pair Ge Fei and Gu Jun, mixed pair Liu Yong and Ge Fei, women's singles Ye Zhaoying and men's singles of Dong Jiong as the candidates to play.
Indonesia will arrange the best strategy against China, according to Christian, with Hendrawan likely playing in the men's singles and Cindana in the women's singles.
In the women's doubles, world champions Ge Fei and Gu Jun look too strong for Deyana Lomban and Indarti Issoliana, who will unite after parting for almost a year. Deyana's present partner, Elysa, is nursing her injured knee before the World Championships next week.
Indonesia's top men's pairing of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan look good against China's Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun.
Indonesia could steal a point in the mixed doubles if Tri Kusherjanto and Minarti Timur can regain the form that helped them beat Chinese rivals Liu Yong and Ge Fei at the Asian Games last December.
In Group A, Denmark, who just won its first match against South Korea, is expected to overcome Sweden. The host country has good chances to win men's singles, women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. While Sweden could take the men's doubles.
Denmark is expected to rest Peter Gade Christensen and allow veteran Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen play the men's singles match against Sweden's world No. 22 Thomas Johansson or No. 28 Rasmus Wengberg. In the women's singles, world No. 3 Camilla Martin will be too strong for Marina Andrievskaya.
In the men's doubles, Dane's Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen will face stiff opposition from Peter Axelsson and Par-Gunnar Jonson.
Denmark has many choices of pairs for the women's and mixed doubles matches, and each of them look better than their Swedish rivals.
Denmark's head coach, Kenneth Larsen, expressed optimism that his athletes could overcome Sweden. "We should win 5-0 over Sweden. It won't be as hard as against Korea."
He hinted he might not field the same team as he had many options, especially in the doubles.
Swedish coach Atiek Djauhari said he only hoped to steal one point from the men's doubles. (yan)