Indonesia takes on China in today's battle of titans

By Arief Suryobuwono

HONG KONG (JP): Only the best cut of the Indonesian Thomas Cup squad will be fielded against China today, Badminton Association of Indonesia training director Iwan Setiawan told reporters here yesterday.

"It is a must for us to field our best of the best because China's Thomas Cuppers make a very strong team. Our world No. 1, Joko Supriyanto, will certainly lead our team in the first men's singles," Iwan said.

Today, Indonesia will take on China while Sweden takes on England in Group A. In Group B, Indonesia's traditional rival, Malaysia, will lock horns against South Korea and Hong Kong against European powerhouse Denmark.

Iwan believed China would also take Indonesia seriously and field its best team. "I think the games between us and China will be highly exciting. The matches will be very tight, as both have the world's best shuttlers."

If China fields its best, undoubtedly it will rely on Dong Jiong, Sun Jun and Li Liwen in the men's singles and its top duos, Huang Zhangzhong/Jiang Xin and Tao Xiaoqiang/Ge Cheng, Iwan said.

Coach Indra Gunawan agreed with Iwan. "The final scores will be of no importance. What's important is that we shall win."

Iwan said China will risk losing the games if it fails to field Dong Jiong as its men's singles player. "I strongly believe China has no option other than fielding Jiong," Iwan said. Indra said that even if China experiments with a weaker team, Indonesia will still field its best.

Statistics show that Joko, compared to his world No. 4 compatriot Hariyanto Arbi, has more wins over Jiong. In their six encounters between April 1, 1995 to March 31, 1996, Joko has a 4- 2 winning streak over Jiong. During their most recent meet last year, Joko was unbeatable. Joko defeated Jiong in the world championship in May 1995, the Singapore Open 1995 and the Grand Prix final last December, also in Singapore.

Third singles

As for whom he is to field in the third men's singles, Iwan refused to mention names. He said that Barcelona Olympic gold medalist Alan Budikusuma and Ardy Bernadus Wiranata have been prepared for the third men's singles. "Alan has better world ranking than Ardy B. Wiranata (Alan ranks sixth, Ardy eighth). But this does not mean that we play down Ardy," Iwan said.

Referring to Indonesian men's singles players' early exits in All England held in Birmingham in March, Iwan said that the terrible losses should have no impacts on their Thomas Cup performances.

Iwan said that taking on China in the first match on day one of the Thomas Cup men's team championship would be beneficial for his team. "That way, the other badminton powerhouses in Group B -- South Korea and Denmark -- will not be able to monitor our players completely," Iwan said, "This will facilitate our players in the other Group A matches."

Meanwhile, the latest world rankings issued by the Interna tional Badminton Federation as of May 15 show that Joko Supriy anto crawled back to his world No. 1 spot, which he lost to Dong Jiong of China on the May 7 ranking lists.

IBF press officer Ashton Sue told The Jakarta Post that the swapping was just "normal", even if the players in question have not been engaged in any competition during that one-week period.

As time goes by, the points collected by a player in a given tournament whose time has been regarded as "expired" will auto matically change even though the player does not play, Sue said.

In other words, points won in an event are subject to a time reduction factor within the time frame of April 1, 1995 to March 31, 1996. This means that if the event took place more than 13 weeks ago, points are worth 90 percent of their original value. If it happened more than 26 weeks ago, they are worth 75 percent and if it was more than 39 weeks ago, they are worth only 55 percent.