Greysia, Rizal advance to Richmond finals

Eva C. Komandjaja The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Mixed doubles pairs Greysia Polii and Muhamad Rizal are the only Indonesia's medal contenders at the 2004 World Junior Badminton Championships in Richmond, Canada.

Greysia and Rizal defeated Lee Yong-dae and Park Soo-hee of South Korea 15-5, 17-15 on Friday to book a ticket in the final against third seeds He Hanbin and Yu Yang of China on Saturday evening (Sunday morning Jakarta time).

However, Greysia failed to produce an impact in the women's doubles with partner Heny Budiman crashing out 1-15, 2-15 to first seeds Tian Qing and Yu Yang of China in the semifinal which lasted just 19 minutes, according to www.badmintonbc.com.

With only one team in the finals in the individual competition in addition to the third-place finish in the team competition which was completed at the weekend, Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI), which is sending six girls and boys to the tournament, looks resigned to the mediocre outcome.

"With PBSI having been lackluster in handling junior players compared with China and South Korea, we have to accept the outcome. I'm relieved that they can still reach the finals," Icuk Sugiarto, PBSI's chief in charge of development affairs, told The Jakarta Post here on Saturday.

Icuk, who has assumed the task of supervising the national training center this year, complained that Indonesian players lacked international experience.

He attributed Greysia's flop in the women's doubles to this problem.

"If she had more experience playing in two events she would have learned how to preserve her energy so as to be able to maintain fire in both events," Icuk said.

Chinese young shuttlers were assured of gold medals in the men's singles and women's doubles with an all China final.

Tian Qing and Yu Yang will play against second seeds Feng Chen and Pan Pan in the women's doubles, while the men's singles final pit top seed Chen Jin against second seed Gong Weijie.

They made it to the finals at the expense of South Korean shuttlers Hwang Jung-woon and Lee Cheol-ho.

China's Lu Lan will be challenged by Chinese Taipei's Cheng Shao Chieh in the women's singles final.

China, however, has been denied a medal in the men's doubles, with Hoon Thien How and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia taking on second seeds Lee Yong-dae and Jung Jung-yeong of South Korea in the finals.