Coach, sponsor pleased with Indonesia Open
JAKARTA (JP): A foreign coach and the sponsor expressed their relief on Tuesday that the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) was proceeding with the Sanyo Indonesia Open badminton championships which starts on Wednesday.
"It's a good achievement for PBSI to go ahead with the tournament. Some tournaments have had to be canceled due to the bad circumstances. Hopefully when things are better, tournaments can be staged again," Malaysia's Danish coach Morten Frost Hansen said after a training session.
This year's Korean Open, Thailand Open and China Open were canceled due to the economic crisis that has blighted the region for more than a year.
Nancy Felicia, general manager of Sanyo distributor PT Sanjaya Sakti, told a media conference earlier in the day: "We're not disappointed with the limited number of participants, only seven federations. We are satisfied that Sanyo can still sponsor the event. We have committed to sponsor the event in the future."
Organizing committee chairman Juniarto Suhandinata said that without PBSI's vigorous lobbying, the number of participants would have been less.
The organizers began to worry about the lack of participants after a number of players withdrew. Only shuttlers from Denmark, Poland, England, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand and Indonesia will compete in the US$120,000 tournament.
Denmark's stars Peter Gade Christensen and Peter Rasmussen in the men's singles and Camilla Martin in the women's singles will all will miss the event.
South Korea and China have also opted to stay away while Malaysia is only sending its second stringers.
Coaches have said top players are missing the Indonesia Open to prepare for the Hong Kong Open in mid-November.
Hansen complained, however, that the Indonesia Open organizers were too slow to confirm that they would stage the tournament.
"We have to prepare for other tournaments. When PBSI announced it would stage the Indonesia Open, our top shuttlers had decided to play in Europe," he said.
Malaysia is only relying on Yong Hock Kin in the men's singles and Lee Wan Wah/Chew Choon Eng in the men's doubles.
Danish coach Kenneth Larsen said that some of his shuttlers had decided to compete in the Hong Kong Open.
"We've got to be in Hong Kong in three weeks from now. It's impossible for them (the shuttlers) to go to Jakarta, back home and then to Hong Kong," he said.
Larsen said Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, would face a tough challenge from host shuttlers, "especially young players such as Taufik Hidayat. We saw him once and he was very good. He's very strong and has a good fighting spirit," he said.
Larsen said that Denmark had a great chance to win the mixed doubles as its two pairs -- Michael Soogard/Rikke Olsen and Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen -- were the first and second seeds.
Sogaard said: "We have a big chance at this tournament provided we can play consistently. We are full of confidence. The weather is hot for everyone and it's not an excuse if we play badly." (yan)