Coach, sponsor pleased with Indonesia Open

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)