Indonesia eyes more golds from induvidual badminton
BANGKOK (JP): Indonesian badminton players, fresh from their triumph in the men's team, are gunning for at least one gold medal as the sport's competition resumes with individual events at the 13th Asian Games on Sunday.
Christian Hadinata, national training center director, predicted that golds could come from the men's singles and men's doubles.
"Our men's doubles teams have the greatest chance of winning the gold. I also believe Hendrawan can get our team another title if he manages to maintain his steady game," Christian said on Saturday.
Indonesian chef de mission Mochamad Hindarto admitted that his contingent was pinning its gold-medal winning hopes on the badminton players.
The Indonesian men's pair of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan will open their campaign against Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung of South Korea in Sunday's first round. If they win, the Indonesians will meet second seeded Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun of China.
"I don't care who we play in the first round. We'll just try to beat them. I will give it my best shot," said Candra, whose long-time partner Sigit Budiarto is serving a one-year drug ban.
Candra was seen shopping in downtown Bangkok on Saturday.
Top seeds Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, meanwhile, will begin the defense of their title against Cambodian debutants Chorvan Chea and Sokhang Krang.
Ricky and Rexy are likely to meet either Kunakorn Suddishodi and Kitipon Kitikul of Thailand or Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Sung Yuan and Lin Wui Hsiang in the second round.
South Korea's Kang Kyung-jin and Ha Tae-kwon or China's second best duo of Liu Yong and Yu Jianhao will stand between the Indonesians and the final place.
"I think the draw gives us a great advantage. Liu and Yu must face the South Koreans first before facing me," said Rexy, who won the 1996 Olympics gold with Ricky.
In the men's singles, world number five Hendrawan is expected to meet Malaysian young shuttler Roslin Hashim in the quarterfinals, and if he wins will set up a rematch with Sun Jun in the semifinals.
"I believe I have a chance in the singles event. I still have two days to recover after the men's team. I think my very tough challenge will come from Roslin because I've never met him before," he said.
Another national shuttler, Taufik Hidayat, who eliminated Luo Yigang of China in the men's team final, will likely challenge Dong Jiong in the quarterfinals.
Taufik last beat Dong in the Brunei Open in July.
In the mixed doubles, Tri Kusherjanto and Minarti Timur have a slim chance of winning the gold as they will have to take on the Chinese partnership of Liu Yong and Ge Fei in the quarterfinals.
Tri and Minarti have never beaten Liu and Ge.
But coach Richard Mainaky said Liu and Ge could be beaten this time around after they missed some tournaments this season.
"Their world ranking has dropped," he said. "Hopefully, they can overcome the Chinese duo," Richard said.
Doubles Budi Santoso and Meiluawati have set no target of winning any medals at the Games.
"They compete only to fill the quota because neither of them competed in the singles. It will be very surprising if they win," Richard said.
However, Indonesia does not expect too much from the women's side, especially after they lost to South Korea in the semifinals.
The Badminton Association of Indonesia vice chairman, Agus Wirahadikusumah, said: "We may achieve nothing in international tournaments for two years. But I promise that we will groom younger shuttlers for future events." (yan)