Chinese shuttlers withdraw from five-star Indonesia Open

JAKARTA (JP): The US$170,000 five-star Indonesia Open apparently held little appeal for world-class Chinese shuttlers, as they opted to withdraw from the annual event and compete in the four-star Malaysia Open instead.

"The Badminton Association of China confirmed the withdrawal of World Championship semifinalist Chen Hong and Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng on the men's side and women's singles World Champion Gong Ruina and world number 14 Dai Yun, pointing to injury as the reason," the secretary-general of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), Leo Chandra Wiranata, was quoted by Antara on Monday.

"The Badminton Association of China's secretary-general, Bao Tong, informed me that the injuries were due to a national badminton championships, but I am sure the Chinese players prefer to prepare for the Grand Prix Final in Brunei Darussalam," he said.

All of the Chinese shuttlers who withdrew from the Indonesia Open are scheduled to play in the Malaysia Open from July 17 to July 22 in Kuala Lumpur.

Chen is the top men's singles seed in that event, while Ji is the ninth seed, worldbadminton.net reported. While Gong Ruina is the second seed and Dai Yun the sixth seed in the women's singles.

The Badminton Association of China also announced that women's doubles Yang Wei and Huang Nanyan, and Zhao Tingting and Zhang, and mixed doubles Wang Wei and Zhao Tingting would be missing the Indonesia Open.

On top of China's sudden withdrawal from the event, Leo also said Malaysia would only be sending second-tier shuttlers to the event, meaning that Roslin Hashim will not be making an appearance.

World number one Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark announced earlier that he would skip the Indonesia Open, as well his fiancee Camilla Martin, to prepare for the Grand Prix Final. And England's Julia Mann earlier withdrew from the event, though no reason was given.

Leo, however, remained upbeat that the Indonesia Open from July 25 to July 29 would be a success despite the absence of some of the world's top shuttlers.

"The competition in the Indonesia Open will still be very tough as we have All England champion Pullela Gopichand of India and last year's All England winner Xia Xuanze of China in the men's singles, and world number one Zhou Mi in the women's singles," he said.

"Besides, we have registered participants from 22 countries, which is a new record for the event."

European countries participating in the Indonesian Open are Denmark, the Czech Republic, Belgium, England, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Wales.

Asian countries in the event are Brunei, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and host Indonesia.

Malaysia Open defending champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, who is ranked third in the world, is the second seed at the event and compatriot Hendrawan, who won the World Championship, is seeded third.

South Korean Lee Hyun-il is seeded fourth while home hero Hashim is seeded fifth and Gopichand sixth.

In the women's singles, Lidya Djaelawidjaja is Indonesia's only seeded player, having been given the fifth seed.

Indonesia's World Champions Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto are seeded first in the men's doubles, while compatriots Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto are seeded seventh.

In the women's doubles, Indonesia's Dian Novita and Rossy Riani are the sixth seeds, while Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur top the mixed doubles seedings followed by compatriots Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa. (nvn)