Indonesia faces tough challenge in Lausanne

Indonesia faces tough challenge in Lausanne

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP): Indonesia's world championship
dominance comes under threat from Europe's finest at this year's
event beginning here today.

Denmark's Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen and Sweden's China-born Lim
Xiaoqing won the All-England championships men's and women's
singles respectively in March's litmus test for the world
showpiece.

The 29-year-old Hoyer-Larsen beat world number one Hariyanto
Arbi of Indonesia in the men's final.

Hariyanto was seeking the first men's singles hat-trick of
titles since his great compatriot Rudi Hartono's run of seven
successive wins ended in 1974.

However, Hoyer-Larsen may have to beat three top Indonesians
before he could take the title.

Indonesia's five players are seeded in the top eight--world
number one Hariyanto, Olympic champion Allan Budi Kusuma, 1991
All England winner Ardy B Wiranata, defending world champion Joko
Suprianto and world number five Hermawan Susanto.

Since Flemming Delfs and Lene Koppen won the inaugural men's
and women's singles for Denmark in 1977, neither title has been
won by a European.

But in the women's event world number three Lim has good
reason to believe she could be destined to win the 1995 title for
Sweden.

Her All-England win in March, beating world and Olympic
champion Susi Susanti in the semis and Denmark's world number
four Camilla Martin in the final, has raised her hopes.

Lim, was also the first player of Asian origin to win a
European singles title. She beat Sweden's Catrine Bengtsson in
the final in Den Bosch, Holland in April last year.

But should Lim go on to take the title, she may have to thank
her dentist.

Her improvement during the autumn and winter was unexpectedly
due to having treatment carried out on her teeth.

She had been feeling weary and tests revealed too much mercury
had been stored in her body. The mercury was traced to old dental
fillings and Lim decided to have the amalgam taken out.

Since then she has shot up the world list to her current
number three spot.

Susi

Defending champion Susi Susanti will be out to reassert her
dominance of the sport after failing in both the All-England
championships and Asian Games this season.

Olympic champion Susanti dominated world badminton during the
early 1990s, but this season, her virtually unbeatable reputation
has been tainted.

In the Asian event in Hiroshima in October, she fell to
Japan's world number 12 Hisako Mizui to prove her defensive
armour can be breached.

Mizui lost the final to Olympic silver-medalist Bang So Hyun,
a 22-year-old freckle-faced Korean who wears a teeth brace and
said she was lucky the Japanese girl took care of Susi.

Bang then issued a challenge to the Indonesian badminton
queen.

"In the future I will beat her without fail," said Bang.

In the men's doubles, Indonesia's Ricky Subagja aims to retain
his title, but is with a different partner since his 1993 win
with compatriot Gunawan.

Subagja, who has since teamed up with Indonesian Rexy Mainaky
and won the All-England title, is top seeded for a repeat
triumph.

But Gunawan is also looking for a repeat win as 3/4 seed with
fellow Indonesian Bambang Suprianto.

In the ladies doubles, top seeds Ge Fei and Gu Jun of China
are set to meet South Korea's Kim Mee-hyang and Kim Shin-young in
the final.

But a good outside bet would be Korea's 5/8 seeds Gil Young-Ah
and Jang Hye-ock, who won the All-England title two months ago.

Europe's sole top seeds are in the mixed doubles where All-
England champions Thomas Lund and Marlene Thomsen of Denmark are
set to meet Indonesia's second seeds Heryanto Trikus and Minarti
Timur in the final.

Lund has already had a taste of world championship success
following his 1993 win with Sweden's Catrine Bengtsson.

The championships, held at the Malley Sports Center, begin
today with the 50-nation Sudirman Cup -- the men/women combined
world team championship.

But only countries from group one -- split into group 1A of
South Korea, China, and England, and group 1B of Indonesia,
Denmark, and Thailand, will have the chance to win the title this
year.

The first matches from group one today are China v England and
Denmark v Thailand.