Indonesia scores morale-boosting Thomas Cup win
Indonesia scores morale-boosting Thomas Cup win
HONG KONG (Reuters): Indonesia made a successful opening to
the defense of its Thomas Cup badminton men's team title yesterday,
brushing aside the Netherlands 5-0.
With team management promising protection for their families
during the rioting in Jakarta and other cities, the Indonesian
players said they were able to concentrate on the competition.
"I'm very happy with the team's performance today. The
condition of the players is good and they were not affected by the
situation in our country," said Agus Wirahadikusuma, an army
general who is the Indonesian team manager.
"I have moved to guarantee the security of the players'
families. Badminton is like a religion in Indonesia and I'm sure a
good team performance here will have a good influence on the people
in the country.
"The athletes know that they can provide moral support for the
population."
Badminton is the national sport in Indonesia and attracts huge
television viewing figures.
Former world champion Hariyanto Arbi started yesterday's rout
with a 15-10, 15-10 win over Jeroen Van Dijk in an error-ridden
match lasted 40 minutes.
"Strong wind has sent a number of my drives off the court,"
Hariyanto gave an excuse of his disappointing performance.
Then the explosive Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, the Olympic
champions, sent the small, but boisterous, Indonesian support into
raptures with a straight-games win over Quinten Van Dalm and Dennis
Lens.
Hendrawan, the world number nine, put the overall result
beyond doubt with a 15-5, 15-3 triumph over Gerben Bruijstens.
China, tipped along with Denmark to challenge Indonesia for
the crown, overcame Sweden 5-0 in their opener.
The deceptively laid-back Sun Jun, the All-England champion,
put top seeded China on the road to victory, beating Sweden's
Henrik Bengtsson 15-7, 15-0 in 27 minutes.
The only surprise was world number five Dong Jiong being taken
to three games by Daniel Eriksson in the final match.
An annual general meeting held by the International Badminton
Federation (IBF) decided yesterday to change two key rules to make
the sport more appealing to spectators and television.
IBF officials announced the decision to follow the lead of
tennis and allow on-court coaching between games.
It is also scrapping the setting rule which applies at 13-13
in doubles and men's singles and 9-9 in women's singles.
The changes will come into force on Aug. 1.
However, setting to three points when the players are tied 14-
14 in doubles and men's singles and to two points when locked 10-10
in women's singles will remain.
"The meeting felt that changing the setting rules would make
the sport easier for spectators to understand," said Madame Lu
Shengrong, president of the IBF.
"By allowing on-court coaching we hope some matches will be
more competitive as the players can benefit from advice from their
coaches."
The ATP tennis Tour introduced on-court coaching as an
experiment at the Hong Kong Open last month and will try it out at
four more tournaments this year.
Results
Group A:
China 5 Sweden 0
Group B:
Indonesia 5 Netherlands 0