Gade Christensen, Martin to skip Indonesia Open

Gade Christensen, Martin to skip Indonesia Open

JAKARTA (JP): World number one men's singles Peter Gade
Christensen and his fiancee world number two women's singles
Camilla Martin of Denmark will miss the US$170,000 Indonesia
Badminton Open so that they can concentrate on the delayed-2000
World Grand Prix Final.

"The Badminton Association of Denmark (DBF) technical
director, Thomas Lund, said earlier this month that Denmark's
main shuttlers will not compete in both the Indonesia Open and
the Malaysia Open due to their close schedule with the Grand
Prix," secretary general of the Badminton Association of
Indonesia (PBSI), Leo Chandra Wiranata, was quoted as saying by
Antara on Monday.

"DBF wants to maintain its shuttlers' performance by not
sending them to the Indonesia Open or the Malaysia Open
especially since their failure to grab the world champions title
early this month."

Gade Christensen lost to eventual champion Hendrawan of
Indonesia in the World Championships final while Martin bowed out
to Dai Yun of China in the third round.

The Malaysia Open is slated from July 18 to July 22 followed
by the Indonesia Open from July 23 to July 29. The World Grand
Prix Final will take place from Aug. 8 to Aug. 12 in Brunei
Darussalam's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.

"There will only be a one-week period between the Indonesia
Open and the Grand Prix Final. Gade Christensen and Martin would
be very tired if they competed at the Indonesia Open, returned to
Denmark before heading for Brunei," said Leo.

"However, I will still try to contact the DBF to have Gade
Christensen and Martin in the Indonesian Open. There is still
time because the entry's deadline is on July 10."

Denmark, one of the world's badminton powerhouses, has only
registered its second tier shuttlers Michael Lamp, Thomas
Sogaard, Jonas Rasmussen, Bramsen Jone, Majken Vange, Pernille
Harder and Ann Lou Joergensen.

China announced earlier that it would send a full team
comprising some of the world's elite shuttlers after three years
of absence in the event. The Chinese team will include Chen Hong,
Ji Xinpeng, Xia Xuanze, Gong Ruina, Zhou Mi, and Dai Yun.

England will also field its best shuttlers of Colin Houghton,
Michael Edge, Mark Constable and Julia Mann.

Meanwhile Thailand will rely on Bonsaak Polsana and India is
putting its hopes on Pullela Gopichand.

So far 12 countries have registered their shuttlers including
host Indonesia, Belgium, China, Chinese Taipei, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, England, India, Norway, Switzerland, Thailand,
and Wales.

PBSI is still waiting for Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia to
send their list of players.

Leo said Gade Christensen's absence would give an advantage to
local hero Taufik Hidayat, the world number two and defending
champion, to be the event's first seed. (nvn)