Illness forces Indonesian shuttlers from Asia Cup badminton meet

JAKARTA (JP): Illness forced two junior female shuttlers, Uber Cup team member Meiluawati and doubles player Carmelita, out of the on-going Asia Cup badminton championship in Seoul, South Korea.

The championship's organizer, Maya Hidayat of the International Management Group, said Meiluawati had the chicken pox and Carmelita, who usually plays doubles with Sandiarto, had a fever.

Carmelita has been replaced by doubles specialist Indarti Isolina. Meiluawati has been replaced by South Korea's Lee Soon- deuk. The championships end of Sunday.

Indonesia has sent a second-string team led by senior shuttlers who did not make the Olympic team. They include Jeffer Rosobin, old-crack Hermawan Susanto, and Uber Cup team member Lidya Djaelawidjaja.

Top world shuttlers competing in the championship are Malaysia's top men's shuttler Rashid Sidek, Olympic gold medalist and mixed doubles specialist Park Sung-woo of South Korea, men's doubles specialist Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia, women's singles Kim Ji-hyun of South Korea, and Zhang Ning of China.

The men are fighting for a cash prize of US$12,000 (Rp 28 million) in the singles, while the women's singles crown is pegged at $8,000. (arf)