Dong promises to retain World Cup title
Dong promises to retain World Cup title
By Primastuti Handayani
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Dong Jiong of China
promised to retain his title at the 1997 Sanyo World Cup
Badminton Championships at Among Rogo Sports Hall here.
Dong, top seeded in the championships, told a press conference
yesterday that he had been preparing for the cup and: "I want to
be the champion this time".
At the 1996 championships in Jakarta, Dong won the title after
beating unseeded Jeffer Rosobin of Indonesia.
"I'll do my best but I think it's difficult to know who will
really win the championships," he said through an interpreter.
Dong said that Indonesia was China's toughest rival at the
championships, which start today and end Sunday.
"Although the Chinese team is ready for the championships I
think Indonesia will be hard to beat," he said.
Dong will be in group A with Jeroen van Dijk of the
Netherlands, Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark and Indonesia's
Indra Wijaya. He will meet van Dijk today in the round-robin
match.
Dong beat Indra in the 1996 Chinese Open while Indra took
revenge in the Grand Prix Finals in Bali in December 1996.
Earlier yesterday Indra said that he was sure he would beat
Dong again.
"I'm very sure that I can beat him again like I did last
year," he said.
Meanwhile, Joko Suprianto of Indonesia said he was still
worried about a thigh injury he sustained at the Grand Prix
Finals.
"I felt nothing during practice but when I fought hard in a
tough match, like I did against Lou Yigang of China in the
Malaysia Open last month, it hurt again," he said.
"I just hope that I won't sustain any injury during the
championships," he added.
Joko failed to perform last year and was replaced by Poul-Erik
Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist.
Joko is scheduled to play against Thomas Johansson of Sweden
in today's first match.
Meanwhile, Mia Audina's coach Retno Kustiyah was optimistic
that Mia would make it to the semifinals.
"Her condition is improving, I just hope she will play as well
as she did in the Singapore Open last month. She doesn't have
internal problems anymore," she said.
Mia will meet Marina Andrievskaya of Sweden today.
South Korean coach Kim Moon-soo said he was sure that his
men's doubles team of Lee Dong-soo/Yoo Yong-sung would reach the
final.
"Our men's doubles have a big chance to reach the final.
Indonesia has strong doubles but the Koreans are hard training.
Our main problem is Sigit Budiarto/Candra Wijaya," he said.
Lee/Yoo will meet Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky in Group B.
The Koreans lead 2-1 against the 1996 Olympic gold medalists.
Kim said: "Lee/Yoo always lost to Sigit/Candra. From four
meetings, Sigit/Candra beat them three times while we only won
once."
Lee/Yoo beat Sigit/Candra in the Swiss Open in March but the
Indonesians took revenge at the World Championship in Glasgow in
May and kept winning at the Indonesian Open and the Singapore
Open last month.
Scoring
Jeff Robson, vice president of the IBF, told yesterday's
conference that the championship would use the new scoring
system.
The system, which was tried at last year's championship, will
give a 90-second break to players at point 8 for the men's
singles and all doubles, and at point 6 for the women's singles.
During the break, which is meant for commercial breaks,
coaches are allowed to give instructions to the players.
The system will only give a chance of deuce at point 14, not
at point 13 and point 14 as before.
"The players can choose to have only one point deuce or sudden
death and three points," Robson said.
Robson said many people disagreed with the system last year
before it was tried in the championships.
"But after they watched it, players, officials, and media
people came to me and said the system was good," he said.
The IBF agreed to replace Deyana Lomban, who partnered
Indarti Isolina in the women's doubles, with old hand Finarsih.
Deyana injured her left ankle during practice a week ago.