Going will be tough for RI shuttlers in early rounds of Olympics

Eva C. Komandjaja Jakarta

The quest to bring home the gold from the 2004 Athens Olympic Games may prove to be even more difficult than expected, with Indonesia's shuttlers drawn against some tough early round opponents.

The International Badminton Federation announced the results of the Olympic draw on Sunday.

Indonesia will be sending 14 shuttlers to Athens -- six in the men's doubles, four in the mixed doubles, two in the women's doubles and two in the men's singles. Indonesia won its first two badminton gold medals in 1992 -- the first time the sport was officially staged at the Olympics -- through Alan Budikusuma in the men's singles and Susi Susanti in the women's singles.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the men's doubles pair of Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky won gold, and Candra Wijaya/Tony Gunawan won gold in the men's doubles at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

If the country wants to continue it tradition of winning gold in the men's doubles, the newly paired Sigit Budiarto and Tri Kusharjanto, a mixed double specialist, will have to get past the Polish pair of Michal Logosz/Robert Matusiak in the first round before facing world number two Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon of South Korea.

Sigit and Tri, ranked 10th in the world, lost to the Koreans in the Swiss Open, but men's doubles coach Herry Imam Pierngadi is optimistic that Sigit and Tri can get past the Koreans.

"It is difficult to beat the Koreans but we must remember that Kim also plays mixed doubles. That might drain his energy," Herry told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto, ranked fifth in the world in the men's doubles, and the seventh ranked Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian receive byes in the first round.

In the second round, Luluk/Alven could meet the Korean pair of Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung. The Indonesians lost to the Koreans in the semifinals of last year's JVC Asian Badminton Championships.

"Lee and Yoo might not be as strong as they used to be because they are getting older," Herry said.

Flandy/Eng Hian will have a second-round match against the winner of the match between Sudket Prapakamol/Patapol Ngernrisuk of Thailand and Nathan Robertson/Clark Anthony of England.

Men's singles player Sony Dwi Kuncoro will face a tough test in the first round against Malaysian Roslin Hashim.

The more experienced Taufik Hidayat is not expected to have any problems getting past his first opponent, Japan's Hidetaka Yamada.

In the mixed doubles, world number five Nova Widianto/Vita Marissa get a first-round bye. They will face either the Japanese pair of Tadashi Ohtsuka/Shizuka Yamamoto or Robert Blair/Natalie Munt of England in the second round.

Anggun Nugroho/Eny Widiowati will meet the Russians Nikolaj Zuev/Marina Yakusheva in the first round of the mixed doubles. If they can get past the Russians, they will meet world number six Chen Qiqiu/Zhao Tingting of China.

"I think Nova and Vita have a better chance of winning a medal than Anggun and Eny if we look at the draw," mixed doubles coach Richard Mainaky told the Post.

Four years ago in Sydney, Tri Kusharjanto and Minarti Timur won the silver medal in mixed doubles, losing to Zhang Jun and Gao Ling of China in the final.

The women's doubles pair of Jo Novita/Lita Nurlita receive a first-round bye, but will face top seeds Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen of China in the second round.