Christian wary of early hurdles for shuttlers

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian top coach Christian Hadinata said on Wednesday the world number two mixed doubles team, Tri Kusharjanto and Minarti Timur, stood a great chance to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games, should they overcome their tricky early hurdles.

Christian warned that in such a big event like the Olympics, little known shuttlers could become dark horses for top-ranking positions.

"Both Tri and Minarti must not underestimate opponents outside the world's top eight who they will likely meet in early rounds. With only four teams regarded as real contenders, I hope they can overcome nontechnical barriers," Christian said.

Apart from Tri and Minarti, Christian rated South Korean world number one pair Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min, world number three pair Liu Yong and Ge Fei of China, world number four tandem Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark and world number seven duo Simon Archer and Joanne Goode of England as the teams with a realistic chance of winning the mixed doubles gold in the Olympics next month.

Having won no title this year, the long-standing but erratic partnership of Tri and Minarti only managed to reach the semifinals at the Indonesia Open in July after bowing out to eventual winners Archer and Goode.

In the Malaysia Open final earlier this month, Tri and Minarti reached the final, only to succumb to Kim and Ra, who defeated Indonesia's other Olympic qualifiers Bambang Suprianto and Zelin Resiana in the quarterfinals.

Christian rested no hope on Bambang and Zelin, except for their help in paving the way for Tri and Minarti to win the gold.

To mark Indonesia's final preparation for the Sydney Games, the country's elite badminton players will play Olympic simulation matches at the Senayan indoor stadium on Friday, beginning at 4 p.m. Badminton fans are allowed to watch the matches for free.

During the simulation, Tri/Minarti will face Bambang/Zelin, men's singles Taufik Hidayat plays No. 3 Hendrawan and No. 8 Marlev Mainaky takes on non-Olympic qualifier Jeffer Rosobin.

In the men's doubles, world no. 1 pair Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan will meet No. 2, and Malaysia Open winners, Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian. (yan)