Danish misfortune may be RI's lucky break

Danish misfortune may be RI's lucky break

Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Although he got the semifinal matchup that he wanted against
Denmark, Indonesia's Sudirman Cup team captain Christian Hadinata
refused on Friday to talk up his players' chances.

Before leaving for Beijing for the mixed team championship,
Christian had said he would prefer to meet the Danes because the
his women's players would have a better chance of winning their
matches.

Denmark, bidding to become the first European country to win
the cup, overcame defending champions South Korea 3-2 in the
final group A match on Thursday.

Indonesia, with several of its top players given a day off
before Saturday's semifinals, lost 0-5 to the hosts in group B.

With Indonesia's players expected to be evenly matched with
the Danes in the men's singles -- including the tempting
possibility of a Taufik Hidayat-Peter Gade duel -- men's doubles
and mixed doubles, much will hinge on the outcome of the women's
singles and women's doubles.

Indonesia's women's chances received a boost on Thursday
thanks to Danish misfortune. Tine Rasmussen, the number one
Danish women's singles player and world ranked 11, fell over and
suffered Achilles damage in her match against Korea's Seon Yoon
hee.

Christian was guarded when asked to make a prediction on
Friday, saying Europe's strongest team cannot be considered a
pushover even without Rasmussen, who is expected to take several
months to recover.

"The fact that Denmark beat Korea is outstanding, especially
that their men's doubles pair (Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen) could
defeat the Olympic champions (Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon),"
Christian said by phone from Beijing.

"They will be tough opponents. It's still 50-50."

Denmark will field rookie Camilla Sorensen, who is ranked 70th
in the world, higher than Indonesia's second singles player
Fransisca Ratnasari Haris (86) but below 51st-ranked Adrianti
Firdasari.

Although Sorensen, 19, is a year older than the two
Indonesians, she has mostly played small European tournaments.

"We have no choice but to play her," Danish coach Steen
Pedersen told The Associated Press. "It will be a tough debut for
her but she will have to learn from it."

Christian said Sorensen, despite her inexperience in major
matchplay, might still present a problem for his players. "For
the European players, the experience is generally about the same,
they're technically good and have self-confidence."

A decision on the Indonesian team lineup will be made on
Saturday following consultation with other coaches.

Heavily favored China will be looking to avenge its defeat to
the Koreans in the final in Eindhoven two years ago when they
play in the evening match on Saturday.

China's head coach Li Yongbo said he was confident his team
could continue to produce the goods following 5-0 sweeps of
round-robin group stage.

"I hope to win all the matches comfortably but we should be
ready for future tough matches in which we may lose games first,"
he was reported as saying by AP.

"I will ask my players to make sure that they are mentally
prepared to fight back from a losing position. I cannot envisage
us winning with a 5-0 scoreline like before."