Indonesia routs Sweden 5-0 in Thomas Cup c'ship

Indonesia routs Sweden 5-0 in Thomas Cup c'ship

By Arif Suryobuwono

HONG KONG (JP): Replacing its second singles player with its
first did not help Sweden cut its 5-0 loss to Indonesia on the
second day of the Thomas Cup men's team badminton championship
here yesterday.

In other Thomas Cup action, Denmark, led by All-England
champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, surprised by edging South Korea
3-2.

World number one Joko Suprianto was stretched to a rubber set
before toppling Swedish second singles player Jens Olsson 16-17,
15-3, 15-7.

Top Swedish player Tomas Johansson showed every sign of
winning after beating Allan Budikusuma 15-12 in the first set
only to have his fortunes abruptly reversed with second and third
set losses of 15-5 and 15-2.

Apart from the two "imbalanced" games which stood corrected,
the other games ran as expected. The world number two partnership
of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky routed Par Gunnar Jonsson and
Peter Axelsson 15-7, 15-3. And Bambang Supriyanto and Gunawan
demolished Johan Tholinsson/Henrik Andersson 15-4, 15-3 in 22
minutes, while Ardy B. Wiranata edged Rikard Magnusson 15-5, 15-
12.

Swedish team manager Lars Sologub said he knew that as a small
badminton country, Sweden could not win against Indonesia.

He quickly added that he has timed his team to peak at the
upcoming Atlanta Olympic Games from July 19 to Aug. 4, not at the
Thomas Cup championship.

Sologub expressed pride that Jens Olsson managed to force Joko
into playing three sets.

Indonesia's team manager Lutfi Hamid, however, was angered at
the swap. Lutfi said it was against the rules to allow a change
like that.

However, Lutfi's protest to referee Roger Johansson of Sweden
went unheeded. Referee Johansson said he allowed Sologub to make
such a swap because Tomas Johansson had been nursing shoulder
injuries since the Swedish Open (March 10) and was newly
recovered. According to Sologub, Tomas Johansson had not been
able to train enough for the Thomas Cup championship and it was
reasonable to put him in the second place.

Lutfi and training director Iwan Setiawan, however, said that
they planned to lodge a formal complaint with Jeff Robson,
chairman of the International Badminton Federation's internation
al championships and tournaments committee.

Lars said his swapping strategy was meant to steal two points
from Indonesia in the two singles matches in question.

To which Lutfi replied, "Thank God, they could not. We would
not have wanted to win 3-2 over Sweden. A 5-0 win was mandatory
to boost the morale of our players." said Iwan, who did not
expect Sweden to fielded its full lineup.

On his victory, Poul who downed Park Sung-woo 15-8, 15-5 said
he had anticipated the win even though he was playing at 80
percent form, the 20 percent being reserved for the Atlanta
Olympics. Poul beat Park 15-3, 15-6 in the semifinals of the All-
England championships last March.

Poul said he won because he succeeded in pushing Park around
with his cross-court cuts. South Korean coach Soon Han-kuk said
in broken English that his players were not in good condition. He
was unable to elaborate.

Danish coach Morten Frost Hansen, with a proud smile, said
that the results (his Uber Cuppers lost to Korea 3-2 and his
Thomas Cuppers won 3-2 over Korea) were a clear signal that now
none of the great badminton powers can afford to overlook
Denmark. "We have proved to the world that our players are get
ting better, that they work very well and that we really mean
business."

Results
Indonesia 5 Sweden 0
Denmark 3 S. Korea 2
Malaysia 5 Hong Kong 0
China 5 England 0

Uber Cup -- Page 12