Hendrawan wants Indonesia Open title
Hendrawan wants Indonesia Open title
JAKARTA (JP): The 1998 Singapore Open winner Hendrawan of
Indonesia is optimistic about winning the 1998 Sanyo Indonesia
Open badminton championships here next month which have been
plagued by a lack of entrants and sponsors.
"My ambition is to win the Indonesia Open to prove that I'm
the best shuttler among my teammates. I need to prove it because
people have called me their hero and the best player. I think I'm
still nothing because I rarely win against my teammates," he told
a media conference on Thursday.
Hendrawan became the country's hero after beating Yong Hock
Kin of Malaysia in the Thomas Cup championship final in Hong Kong
in May to steal one point in the singles. Indonesia won the cup
for 11th time thanks to doubles victories from Ricky Subagja/Rexy
Mainaky and Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto.
The championships, offering US$120,000 in prize money --
US$80,000 less than last year -- will take place at the Senayan
Indoor stadium from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
"I'm preparing myself very seriously for the event and I
turned down my coach's offer to compete at the Danish Open (in
Copenhagen from Oct. 14 to Oct. 18). I'll have had about six
weeks to prepare after I lost at the Asian Championships in
Bangkok early this month," he said.
The Indonesia Open will be the last tryout for national
shuttlers before the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok from Dec. 6 to
Dec. 20.
The general manager of PT Sanjaya Sakti, the marketing office
of Japan-based electronics company Sanyo, Nancy Felicia, denied
reports that the main sponsor, Sanyo, was only providing $20,000.
"Some papers mentioned it last week but it is not true. Our
contribution is much more than that," she said, but declined to
mention the figure because it was "confidential".
The organizers, the Badminton Association of Indonesia and the
International Management Group (IMG), reduced the prize money
from $200,000 due to the economic collapse, moved the tournament
from Manado, North Sulawesi, and adjourned it for more than two
months for security reasons. The smaller cash prizes
automatically drop the event's rating from five stars to four.
IMG senior events manager, Maya Hidajat, said that Sanyo's
contribution was more than 50 percent of the prize money.
Maya said only that Sanyo had confirmed it would sponsor the
event.
"It's hard to get more sponsors but some other companies are
to give their answers in one or two weeks from now," she said.
The association's secretary-general, Leo Ch. Wiranata, said
the organizers decided to delay the registration deadline to
attract more participants.
The association has invited 30 members of the International
Badminton Federation to compete, but only Nigeria has responded.
The deadline for registration has been extended from Sept. 25 to
Oct. 1.
Leo said Singapore, England and Japan have confirmed their
nonparticipation in the event. China's head coach Li Yongbo has
said he does not know if the Chinese shuttlers will compete at
the event.
Indonesia produced a clean sweep in last year's event in
Surakarta, Central Java, thanks to the absence of Chinese players
who did not attend because they experienced visa problems. (yan)