Indonesia gears up for men's badminton title

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

It was not enough for Indonesia's men's team badminton players to defeat powerhouse China 3-1 at the Busan 2002 Asian Games semifinal match on Monday as they have a much tougher job ahead of them with the final match against host South Korea.

Learning from their bitter experience in the 1986 Asian Games, held in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Indonesia can only hope that match officials will uphold their pledge to act fairly. Indonesia lost its medal in the semifinals of the men's team badminton event in the 1986 Asiad.

South Korea will likely rely on its doubles, who are among the world's strongest pairs, said Indonesian badminton team manager Christian Hadinata.

Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon, the 1998 world champions, are South Korea's second doubles, although they are possibly the strongest.

Lee Dong Soo and Yoo Yong Sung have been promoted to the first doubles status after gaining a better rank by taking part in more tournaments than their seniors.

"South Korea also has good single players Shon Seung-mo, Lee Hyun-il and Park Tae-sang," Christian said.

The fact that Kim and Ha are Korea's second doubles is an advantage for Indonesia, as it means that they will not meet Korea's first doubles.

"But the players need to also be careful about the possibility that the linesmen will prefer host shuttlers, and not to mention the tremendous home crowd support," Christian warned.

Indonesia will rely on former 1997 world champions Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto as the first doubles. Tri Kusheryanto and Halim Haryanto are the second doubles.

In the singles, Taufik Hidayat is surely the first singles and Hendrawan will be the third singles as both are Indonesia's best shuttlers so far. This leaves either Rony Agustinus or Marlev Mainaky to be the second singles.

However, considering Rony's poor performance in the quarterfinals against Thailand and the semifinals matches, it is likely that Marlev will step in as the second singles.

But fielding Marlev may also pose a threat as Marlev has yet to take a match. Hendrawan has also been kept idle as Indonesia won the earlier matches 3-1.

If Indonesia beats South Korea, there is no doubt that Indonesia would be the real men's team champion.

Earlier this year, Indonesia defeated Denmark and Malaysia as it fought to keep the Thomas Cup at home.

In athletics, the Indonesian track and field team of three athletes will be required to do their best to improve their personal records amid strong pressure that they should contribute any kind of medal.

The Indonesian Athletics Association (PASI) could only send men's marathoner I Gusti Gde Karang Asem, women's hammer thrower Yurita Aryani and women's pole vaulter Ni Putu Desi Margawati to the quadrennial sporting event.

Desi will try to improve her 4.10 meter mark recorded at the Asian championships in Colombo just weeks before the 14th Asiad. The pole vault event is slated to be held on Wednesday at the Busan Asiad Main Stadium.

Desi ranked fourth among the seven participants in regard to each pole vaulter's personal records in the Asiad.

Chinese Gao Shuying ranked first with 4.52 meters, while two Japanese pole vaulters ranked second and third. Ono Masumi came in second with 4.30 meters and Kondo Takayo was third with 4.20 meters.