Hariyanto to miss All England

Hariyanto to miss All England

JAKARTA (JP): Former world badminton men's singles champion
Hariyanto Arbi said on Thursday he would skip the All-England
championships in Birmingham, England, and opt for the subsequent
Japan Open instead.

"I won't compete in the All-England. I'll go to the Japan Open
in April. Why? Nothing...," he said, without elaborating.

Hariyanto is gearing up for the Grand Prix Finals in the
Brunei capital of Bandar Seri Begawan from Feb. 24 to Feb. 28
after resting for over three months to nurse his back injury.

His coach, Agus Dwi Santoso, told The Jakarta Post that
Hariyanto had been set to play a few tournaments this year,
notably the Grand Prix Finals, the Japan Open in April, the
Sudirman Cup mixed team championships and the World
Championships. The last two events are scheduled to take place in
Glasgow in May.

"Hari (as his friends call him) is getting older. It's
difficult for him to compete in two consecutive tournaments
without having an adequate recovery period. That's why we asked
him to return to competition at least one month after the Grand
Prix Finals," he said.

The All England will run in mid-March. Hariyanto won the
tournament twice in 1993 and 1994 when it was held at Wembley.
The 27-year-old player has been battling with both foot and back
injuries in the past three years, costing him the old form that
helped him win the 1995 World Championships.

Agus said Hariyanto had no injury problems ahead of his trip
to Brunei.

Currently ranked 15th in the world, Hariyanto will make his
seventh successive appearance in the Grand Prix Finals. The
season-ending tournament was moved back from its original
schedule in December to allow Asian players to don their national
colors at the Asian Games.

Other than Hariyanto, world number five Hendrawan and number
10 Budi Santoso will represent Indonesia in Brunei. Only the
world's top 16 are eligible for the event.

Agus said he has yet to decide if Hariyanto would join the
national team for the Sudirman Cup and World Championships.

"It depends on his performance in Brunei and Japan," Agus
said.

Separately, the Badminton Association of Indonesia deputy
chief of athletes development affairs, Hadi Nazri, said that
Hariyanto has been advised to be selective in choosing
tournaments he wants to play due to his physical condition.

"Learning that he no longer is in top form, he must compete
only in major tournaments," Hadi said. (yan)