Indonesia, Denmark set for tough semifinal encounter
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Guangzhou, China
As Indonesia's men shuttlers enter the latter stages of their campaign to write badminton history, the Danes have more modest goals for their Thomas Cup semifinals match on Friday evening.
Defending Thomas Cup champion Indonesia has raised the coveted cup four times in a row since 1994, and is aiming for a record fifth. The Danish squad, on the other hand, is looking to avenge its defeat to the Indonesians in the 2000 Thomas Cup semifinals in Kuala Lumpur.
Entering the semifinals full of confidence after winning Group B, Indonesia is striking a careful tone when discussing its chances against Denmark, who was the runner-up in Group A.
"We cannot underestimate Denmark's strength because the Danes are good shuttlers," said Indonesian team manager, Christian Hadinata.
"It's going to be a tough match as Denmark doesn't have any pressure, unlike us who want to make history. They are also drawing motivation from their loss to us (at the 2000 Thomas Cup)," he added.
Indonesia lost only one game -- Marlev Mainaky fell 1-7, 2-7, 7-2, 5-7 to Wong Choong Han of Malaysia -- in three qualifying round matches against Thailand, Malaysia and Germany.
Physical trainer Paulus Pasurney told The Jakarta Post that the two-day rest before the semifinals would help the Indonesian shuttlers recover somewhat.
"It is impossible to improve their level of physical fitness now. But at least they will be able to recover after such a tough match against the Malaysians during the qualifications," he said.
While Denmark is optimistic about its chances, it knows that getting out of the semifinals will not be easy.
"Indonesia is still the favorite to meet China in the final. But you never know as our doubles played extremely well against the Koreans in the qualifying round," coach Jan Joergensen said.
"It may be difficult for us to win but the Indonesians will not win it easily either."
Denmark is playing without its top shuttler, Peter Gade Christensen, who is sitting out the campaign following a knee surgery. But it still managed to finish second after host China.
Despite being in the tough Group A, Denmark only lost to China, falling 2-3. The Danes denied the South Koreans' a semifinals berth with a 3-2 win in a do-or-die match, and chalked up a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Sweden.
Without Gade Christensen, Denmark is relying on 1997 World Champion Peter Rasmussen. Although he had been out of action for two years due to an ankle ligament injury, Rasmussen clinched the European Championships title in April.
Due to his long absence, Rasmussen virtually has no world ranking and is being used as the vital third singles for Denmark.
Against Denmark, Indonesia will be fielding its strongest singles players. First singles Marlev is expected to repeat his success of two years ago when he ousted Kenneth Jonassen in the semifinals with the countries tied 2-2.
Taufik Hidayat and Hendrawan are likley to face Danish players of Anders Boesen and Peter Rasmussen in the second and third singles, respectively.
In the doubles, Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto, and Halim Haryanto and Tri Kusheryanto will have a difficult task against the Danish pairs of Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Jens Eriksen, and Jonas Rasmussen and Lars Paaske.
The Danes have reached the semifinals by defeating some of the best Chinese and Korean pairs. Paaske and Rasmussen defeated China's Cheng Rui and Wang Wei and Korea's Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-soo. While Hansen and Eriksen enjoyed a victory over Zhang Jun and Zhang Wei.