Elysa's injury worries Deyana on Olympics try

Elysa's injury worries Deyana on Olympics try

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian women's doubles specialist Elysa
Nathanael's leg injury worries partner Deyana Lomban on their
ambition to reach the semifinals in the Olympic Games in Sydney
in September.

"We aim to reach the Olympics semifinals. But Elysa's injury
has spoiled our preparation as she will miss the Malaysian Open
next week," Deyana said after training at the Indonesian
Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Friday.

The Malaysian Open from Aug. 16 to Aug. 20 will serve is the
last Grand Prix series prior to the Olympics.

"Maybe our target sounds unrealistic but we are working hard
to reach it," she said, adding that Chinese pairs are still the
best in the world.

Due to Elysa's injury, Deyana will partner Carmelita in
Malaysia. They reached the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open
last month before losing to world number one Ge Fei and Gu Jun of
China.

"Elysa decided to miss the tournament to recover her physical
condition and focus her attention more on the Olympics. While I
need more competitive spirit before the Olympics so I opted to
compete in Malaysia."

Deyana admitted that there were times when she felt unable to
go further.

"But I keep telling myself that all the hard work is for
myself and not for anyone else. So I try hard not to quit easily,
specially when I get bored."

Criticism has been addressed to coach Imelda Wigoeno on her
decision to field Elysa during the Uber Cup championships in
Kuala Lumpur in May as she was unable to reach her best form
during the event. Indonesia lost to Denmark in the semifinals.

After the championships, Elysa was absent from the Thailand
Open and Indonesian Open, where Deyana lost in the first round
with newcomer Upi Chrisnasari.

"I don't think we will have problems in the Olympics as Elysa
is quite senior and she knows how to handle the situation, even
though she's absent from tournaments for quite a long time," said
Deyana, who with Elysa are ranked 12th in the IBF.

Deyana -- who receives special training sessions from the
Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) training director and
men's doubles coach Christian Hadinata twice a week together with
Olympic qualifiers Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta, world
number eight -- said she needed to improve her pace during
competition.

"I have to maintain my physical and mental condition and also
my technical skills. I don't want to lose my pace by skipping
important tournaments. Although I can't reach optimum results in
warm-up events with different partners, I'll still do it," Deyana
said.

The 24-year-old Indonesian said she would partner Carmelita
after the Olympics as Elysa plans to retire after the quadrennial
event.

"I think I'll reach higher with Carmelita. We match one
another on and off court," she said.

Carmelita said she still needed to work harder on her netting
and physical condition.

"We aim to perform much better after the Olympics. We don't
want to get left behind in international events, especially by
Chinese duos."

In the Malaysian Open, PBSI will send Taufik Hidayat, Arief
Rasidi, Jeffer Rosobin, Irwansyah, Yudi Suprayogi and Aditya
Sindoro in the men's singles; Lidya Djaelawidjaja, Yuli Marfuah
and Niniek Masrikah in the women's singles; Candra
Wijaya/Antonius, Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian, Halim Heryanto/Sigit
Budiarto, Nova Widhianto/Endra Mulyajaya and Tri
Kusharjanto/Bambang Suprianto in the men's doubles, Deyana
Lomban/Carmelita, Etty Tantri/Cynthia Tuwankotta, Minarti
Timur/Zelin Resiana in the women's doubles; and Tri
Kusharjanto/Minarti Timur, Bambang Suprianto/Zelin Resiana, Nova
Widhianto/Upi Chrisnasari in the mixed doubles. (yan)