Indonesia beats England 5-0 in Uber Cup

HONG KONG (Agencies): The Indonesian women's badminton team, led by legend Susi Susanti crushed England 5-0 in their first Uber Cup tie yesterday.

Susi opened Indonesia's first victory over England beating Julia Mann 11-0, 11-1.

Eliza and Rosiana Zelin took the second victory although they had to struggle 15-10, 9-15, 8-17 over Donna Kellog and Joanne Meiluawati.

Meiluawati put the team to 3-0 with a straight games win over Rebecca Pantaney 11-2, 11-0.

The Indonesian team continued to be on the upperhand of the English women when their doubles Denyana Lomban/Indarti Isolina easily defeated Joanne Davies/Sarah Hardaker 15-8, 15-4.

Cindana closed the team's fifth win ousting Tracy Halim 11-1, 11-0.

Team manager Agus Wirahadikusumah said that the victory by Elisa and Zelin had incited the spirit and moralty of their teammates.

"Should Elisa and Zelin lose the match, this could create a problem to the other players," Agus said as quoted by Antara.

Imelda Wiguna, the women's team coach, said it was fortunate that both Elisa and Zelin are experienced players. "If they (Elisa/Zelin) were not experienced players, that's a different story."

Christian Hadinata, the men's team coach, said that Elisa and Zelin showed their good performance, although they had to struggle in rubber set.

"It doesn't matter they won in rubber set, as long they don't lose," Christian said.

Indonesia is in Group B together with South Korea who won over the Netherlands 5-0.

In Group A, China easily trounced Hong Kong 5-0 and Denmark defeated Japan also with 5-0.

World number two Camilla Martin was the star of the show of the Danish team with a 12-10 11-12 11-7 singles defeat of Kanako Yonekura before teaming up with Ann Jorgensen to defeat Chihiro Ohsaka and Yonekura 15-3 15-8.

Indonesia will start to defend the Thomas Cup men's team title when it meets the Netherlands today.

Christian declined to say the lineup of the players in the team. "We will not inform the lineup of the players in the team against the Netherlands."

But Dutch coach Jann Wiggers was confident that his players could take two points from their single and double players.

"I am certain that Jeroen van Dijk and Nobert van Berneveld/Jurgen van Leeuwen could grab victories from the Indonesian players," Wiggers said.

Indonesia will start today's Thomas Cup matches against the Netherlands at 12:30 p.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB), which will be followed by a match between China and Sweden. Malaysia then plays South Korea at 6:30 p.m (WIB). and continued with Denmark meeting Hong Kong.

RCTI will broadcast live the match between Indonesia and the Netherlands at 12:30 p.m.

Denmark, who has never won the title, can call upon the services of world number one Peter Gade Christensen, Olympic champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen and world champion Peter Rasmussen.

The Danes have a worry over Rasmussen who is troubled with an achilles tendon problem which forced him to withdraw from the European Championships last month.

Results

Group A:

China 5 Hong Kong 0 (Chinese names first) Gong Zhichao bt Koon Wai-chee 11-1, 11-2 Dai Yun bt Ling Wan-ting 11-6, 11-4 Qin Yiyuan/Tang Yongshu bt Koon/Tung Chau-man 15-8, 15-10 Han Jingna bt Ng Ching 11-3, 11-1 Qiang Hong/Liu Lu bt Ling/Chen Mei-mei 15-6, 15-0

Denmark 5 Japan 0 (Danish names first) Camilla Martin bt Kanako Yonekura 12-10, 11-12, 11-7 Rikke Olsen/Marlene Thomsen bt Yoshiko Iwata/Haruko Matsuda 15-6, 15-9 Mette Pedersen bt Yasuko Mizui 11-4, 11-6 Ann Jorgensen/Martin bt Chihiro Ohsaka/Yonekura 15-3, 15-8 Mette Sorensen bt Hiroko Nagamine 11-4, 11-1

Group B:

Indonesia 5 England 0 (Indonesian names first) Susi Susanti bt Julia Mann 11-0, 11-1 Eliza/Rosiana Zelin bt Donna Kellogg/Joanne Goode 15-10, 9-15, 18-17 Meiluawati bt Rebecca Pantaney 11-2, 11-0 Denyana Lomban/Indarti Isoliana bt Joanne Davies/Sarah Hardaker 15-8, 15-4 Cindana bt Tracy Hallam 11-1 11-0

South Korea 5 Netherlands 0 (Korean names first): Kim Ji-hyun bt Judith Meulendijks 12-11, 12-10 Ra Kyung-min/Jang Hye-ock bt Erica Van Den Heuvel/Monique Hoogland 15-8, 15-4 Lee Joo-hyun bt Brenda Beenhakker 11-3, 11-5 Kim Shin-young/Kim Mee-hyang bt Nicole Van Hooren/Lotte Jonathans 10-15, 15-1, 15-9 Lee Kyung-won bt Carolien Glebbeek 11-5, 11-5