Indonesia eying four Asiad golds from badminton
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is setting its sights on winning four gold medals from its shuttlers in the upcoming Asian Games in Bangkok in December, despite its disappointing result in the just-concluded Asian Championships.
Head coach Christian Hadinata predicted on Sunday the top honors would come from the men's team, the men's doubles, the women's singles and the mixed doubles.
The target is double the National Sports Council's expectation of two golds. Badminton gave Indonesia all its three golds in the previous games in Hiroshima, Japan, four years ago.
"There are seven events at the Asiad badminton, and we have great chances in four of them," he said.
"But I won't expect too much from the men's singles players because of their erratic form so far (this season). Sometimes they perform extraordinarily but at other times they prove to be short of fighting spirit. It seems that they take on nontechnical problems," he said, as quoted by Antara.
Christian said he had consulted psychologists to help the men's players solve the problem.
The coach said he was disappointed with Indonesia's failure to win any gold medals in the Asian Championships also in Bangkok, which concluded on Saturday.
Indonesia fielded its best men's singles team in the tournament, but only Marleve Mainaky managed to reach the final. Marleve, who beat Chinese top player Dong Jiong in the early rounds, easily lost to Chen Gang of China in the race for the gold.
Singapore Open champion Hendrawan and former world champion Hariyanto Arbi both crashed out in the early rounds.
China, Indonesia's strongest challenger in December's Asian Games, scooped three out of the five top honors at stake with South Korea winning the other two.
Christian said winning the Asiad men's doubles gold medal was a key goal. Indonesia will boast the world's top three tandems of Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky, Antonius/Denny Kantono and Sigit Budiarto/Candra Wijaya in the quadrennial event, which runs from Dec. 6 to Dec. 20. The three pairs were all absent from the Asian Championships.
In the women's singles, Christian is relying on veteran Susi Susanti, whom he said still had great motivation to win.
"She has a personal ambition to win the Asiad gold medal which has eluded her, before sealing her career," he said.
Christian criticized Indonesia's best hope in the women's singles Mia Audina, who has been on the decline in the past year.
"Maybe it's because she is thinking of her mother who is sick and due to her boyfriend who always accompanies her to any tournament she plays in," he said.
"She is six kilograms overweight and I think this will cause her difficulties when competing in big tournaments."
Windsurfing
The national windsurfing team for the Asiad has demanded the financial assistance promised by the National Sports Council to hire a foreign coach.
"The council has yet to disburse its commitment of Rp 100 million (US$9,090)," coach Iskandar Sitompul said on Sunday.
The money was originally provided for the Indonesian Tennis Association to hire a foreign coach, but it returned the money saying the amount was not enough to pay the coach's salary.
Iskandar said he would need Rp 160 million to sign an Australian coach, either Bruce Campbell or Cris Laurence, for three months.
"We are prepared to cover Rp 60 million of the price tag," Iskandar said, adding that the coach would arrive here soon.
The Indonesian Windsurfing and Yachting Association has been grooming Oka Sulaksana, Abdul Malik Faisal and Fadli Faisal for the games.
Oka won the bronze in the mistral one class while Malik won the silver in the mistral race board in the Asian Championships in Qing Dao, China, last month, the latest feeder event for the Asiad.
Iskandar said that although the outcome met the target set by the council, he was far from satisfied. (yan)