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)