Indonesia Open badminton c'ships 'on as planned'

Indonesia Open badminton c'ships 'on as planned'

JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI)
strongly denied a report from the Asian Badminton Confederation
(ABC) saying that the US$170,000 Indonesia Open was being
postponed until November.

"The Indonesia Open will still take place from July 23 until
July 29 at the Bung Karno Indoor Stadium as scheduled. We are
still preparing for the event," PBSI secretary-general Leo
Chandra Wiranata told reporters on Wednesday.

"We are also still processing all the required permits with
the security authorities."

Leo was responding to a letter from the Badminton Association
(BA) of Singapore citing its reasons for not yet naming a referee
for the event.

"I sent a letter to the BA of Singapore over a month ago
asking them for a referee for the Indonesian Open but I've yet to
receive a replay."

"Singapore said it had learned from the ABC's executive
secretary Karen Koh that the Indonesia Open had been postponed to
November. This is categorically untrue."

"I'm going to call the ABC general secretary Punch Gunalan to
clarify the matter as we are still sticking with the schedule."

Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have an agreement
that the host country bears all the expenses of a referee from
one of the other countries.

The five-star tournament was originally scheduled to take
place in Surabaya but Japanese electronics manufacturer Sanyo,
the main sponsor of the event, demanded that the PBSI relocate
the event to Jakarta for advertising reasons.

There are also concerns related to safety and security as the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is set to stage a special
session on Aug. 1 to call embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid
to account for his leadership of the country.

Many observers are worried that violent rallies will be staged
by Wahid's die-hard supporters before and during the session.

The heated political situation, however, has not prevented the
badminton countries from fielding their shuttlers.

Badminton powerhouse China even plans to send its full team,
including some of world's top players after there years of
absence. The players include world number three Chen Hong,
Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng, last year's All England winner Xia
Xuanxe, world champion Gong Ruina, world number one Zhou Mi, and
Dai Yun.

England will field Colin Houghton, Michael Edge, Mark
Constable and Julia Mann, while India is fielding All England
champion Pullela Gopichand. Thailand is to field Bonsaak Polsana.

"We are still awaiting word from Denmark as to whether they'll
field world number one Peter Gade Christensen and world number
two Camilla Martin. I've been told that they want to concentrate
on the Grand Prix Finals," said Leo.

"If the event were to be postponed, they would definitely come
(to the rescheduled event)." (nvn)