Indonesia looks to benefit by China's absence from Sanyo Open

By Primastuti Handayani

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) deputy athletes development officer Hadi Nazri expressed hope that Indonesian shuttlers in the women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles could take advantage of the absence of Chinese and South Korean players in the US$150,000 Sanyo Indonesia Open.

"If we see from their drawings, our national players could benefit. They must not lose in early rounds before their own public," he said.

"With the recent point system where athletes will get a point bonus if they can beat seeded players, I hope our shuttlers will not be afraid and can win. They must think of it as their chance," he added.

In the women's singles tournament, which will start Wednesday at the Yuwana Mandala Hall, top seeded Camilla Martin of Denmark, the 1999 World Champion, will not face a tough challenge in early rounds.

She will only face a tough challenge in the quarterfinals by meeting Indonesian Lidya Djaelawidjaja, who will likely be able to overcome her juniors in the first and second rounds.

Second seeded Cindana Hartono, the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist, will have to take on Heike Schoenharting of Germany in the first round. If she wins, she is likely to face Dane Mette Pedersen. If Cindana reaches the quarterfinals, she will possibly meet Margit Borg of Sweden.

Meiluawati has to work hard in the first round as she will meet third seeded Mette Sorensen of Denmark, the 1999 World Championships semifinalist and the 1998 Indonesia Open finalist. The winner is likely to challenge Ellen Angelina, the 1997 Indonesia Open finalist.

Mia Audina, who now plays for the Netherlands, will miss the tournament to retain her title.

Hadi said: "Based on the rankings, Camilla is far above our shuttlers. She usually doesn't play really well in Indonesia. We'll see how our shuttlers perform in their meets."

Trouble

In the women's doubles, defending champion Elysa and Deyana Lomban will have to retain their titles. They won over Dane Rikke Olsen and Marlene Thompsen last year.

However, Elysa and Deyana will have to work hard to overcome Danish pairs of Mette Schjoldager and Ann-Lou Jorgensen in the quarterfinals.

If they reach the semifinals, they will likely challenge top seeded Ann Jorgensen and Maiken Vange of Denmark. But Jorgensen and Vange will have to take on another Indonesian pair of Vita Marissa and Emma Ermawati in the second round.

Second seeded Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta of Indonesia, the 20th SEA Games gold medalists, will face trouble in beating their opponents in early rounds. They are likely to meet Rikke Olsen and Helene Kirkegaard of Denmark in the semifinals. But Olsen and Kirkegaard will have to face another Indonesian duo of Indarti Issolina and Carmelita in the quarterfinals.

"This is the perfect moment to test our new partnerships performance. If they can beat higher seeded pairs, it will increase their self confidence. We have urged them to have a target of reaching the top eight in the world for the Olympics qualification by the end of this year."

In the mixed doubles, Dane Michael Sogaard was optimistic that he and partner Rikke Olsen would make a comeback beating Tri Kusherjanto and Minarti Timur.

"I have never lost when I play here. I'm in my best physical condition. I'm very optimistic," he said.

Last year in Jakarta, Sogaard and Olsen had to bow out to Tri and Minarti.

But Hadi said Bambang Suprianto and Zelin Resiana were expected to beat Sogaard and Olsen in the semifinals to secure an all-Indonesian final match.

"Although Tri and Minarti will likely face another Danish double of Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager in the semifinals, I hope the old hands can overcome the challenge."

Separately, deputy referee of Indonesia Open, Juniarto Suhandinata, Malaysian men's singles Wong Choon Han and Rashid Sidek and Indonesian men's doubles Tri Cahyo had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.

"Both Wong and Rashid withdrew due to injury and they had medical certificates from their doctors."