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)