Indonesia hopes for survival in Uber Cup tie

Indonesia hopes for survival in Uber Cup tie

KUALA LUMPUR (JP): The Indonesia Uber Cup team hopes to
survive in the upcoming match against Denmark on Saturday in the
Thomas and Uber Cup championships at the Putra Indoor Stadium.

Indonesia's 3-2 victory over Japan in Thursday's opening day
match is expected to be an injection of motivation for the team's
performance.

"I hope the victory can make the players more confident in
facing their next match," coach Imelda Wigoeno said on Friday.

"We hope to get two singles and one doubles. Our second and
third singles and the first doubles players have a better chance
against the Danish shuttlers."

"Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban lost narrowly to Rikke
Olsen and Helene Kirkegaard in the Indonesia Open. But they were
not in their best form at that time. Hopefully they can improve
their form here."

Imelda declined to mention the team line-up, only saying: "We
must see the condition our athletes day by day. We will ask them
personally about their preparations for the match."

Indonesia will likely field first singles player Lidya
Djaelawidjaja, despite her loss to Yasuko Mizui on Thursday,
against 1999 world champion Camilla Martin.

"It will be a good chance for me to defeat Camilla again as I
did in the Indonesia Open last year. Hopefully I can play more
relaxed," Lidya said.

Second singles player Ellen Angelina is likely to take on
Mette Sorensen while the third singles player could be Niniek
Masrikah facing Mette Pedersen. Yuli Marfuah, who lost to Miho
Tanaka on Thursday, may be left as a spectator.

In the doubles event, Indonesia has a chance to field second
best Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta to challenge Olsen and
Kirkegaard. Second doubles will likely be Minarti Timur and Zelin
Resiana to take on Ann-Lou Jorgensen and Mette Schjoldager.

In another match, Japan will force its shuttlers to play hard
to avoid relegation by defeating Malaysia, which previously lost
to Denmark 1-4.

Whitewash

While in the Thomas Cup, Indonesia aims to create another
whitewash of 5-0 against England. However, the doubles must be
aware of the partnership of Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson,
who, surprisingly, took one point from Chinese pair Zhang Jun and
Yu Jinhao.

Head coach Christian Hadinata said: "Shuttlers must perform as
well as last Thursday, showing consistency from the first to last
matches."

"We must improve our performance from day to day as our
opponents are doing exactly the same thing."

Indonesia is likely to field the same singles players as on
Thursday. Hendrawan may play first, followed by Taufik Hidayat
and Marlev Mainaky. The team seems reluctant to field Hariyanto
Arbi, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury.

In the doubles, however, world number one pair Candra Wijaya
and Tony Gunawan are likely to sit on the bench.

The old partnership of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, the
1996 Olympic Games champions, are likely to take over the duty
and the second doubles will likely be a new partnership of
Antonius and Sigit Budiarto.

On another court, Sweden seems realistic about its chance
against another favorite China in the Thomas Cup match.

"In facing China, we hope to be able to defeat their first
doubles as done by Simon and Nathan. Their victory has motivated
our doubles Par-Gunnar Jonsson and Peter Axelsson to grab a
point. I also think we have a good chance in the third singles
between Martin Hagberg and Luo Yigang as Luo is not a very
special shuttler compared to his teammates," said coach Atik
Djauhari.

Atik, formerly a coach at the Indonesian Badminton Center,
complained about his team's limited preparation for the biennial
event.

"We only prepared for two days. For Sweden, the Thomas and
Uber Cup Championships is not a top priority. We only aim to be
ahead of England in order to avoid relegation."

"We are focussing our attention more on the preparation of our
shuttlers for the Olympic Games in Sydney in September. By
competing here, they can observe world shuttler performances."
(yan)