Indonesia to face Denmark in Thomas Cup final
Indonesia to face Denmark in Thomas Cup final
HONG KONG (AFP): Indonesia will defend its Thomas Cup men's team badminton championship title against Denmark amidst tight security here today.
Security at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium has been stepped up for both Thomas and Uber Cup finals at the weekend, after a bomb scare delayed semi-final matches on Friday.
Indonesia earned a place in the final with an unflattering 3-2 win over South Korea, while Denmark upset China with the same scoreline.
Victorious team manager Lutfi Hamid said the potential for further bomb threats during the event would not affect his country's defense of the title.
"I don't care about bombs," Lutfi said. "I just care about my team."
World number one Joko Suprianto, and ever reliable Alan Budikusuma took the first two singles matches while Ricky Subagdja and Rexy Mainaky won the doubles to give Indonesia a winning 3-0 lead.
"I thought it was going to be a tough match but we were lucky to get such a good start," Lutfi said.
"The first four players played very well and I hope they can do the same in the final."
Joko opened Indonesia's account winning 18-17, 15-1 over Park Sung Woo before Mainaky and Subagdja made it 2-0 with a 15-10, 15-7 victory over Ha Tae-Kwon and Kang Kyung-Jin.
Kusuma sealed the semi-final tie by beating Lee Kwang-jin 15- 6, 15-9 to the delight of the vocal Indonesian fans.
Denmark will be hoping to re-write the history books which show a 9-0 win to Indonesia the last time the two teams met in a Thomas Cup final 17 years ago.
Lutfi warned his team against complacency.
"Denmark are very strong, especially in the doubles," said Lutfi.
England warned
On Friday, England came under fire from the International Badminton Federation (IBF) after failing to send a full strength team to the Thomas and Uber Cups.
Badminton's governing body said it would investigate England's selection policy which it suggested was "against the interests of the game."
An IBF statement said: "In the future it may be necessary for the IBF to further strengthen the regulations to protect the best interests of the game."
David Shaw, executive director of the IBF, added: "We are not making a judgment, we want the facts. Our main goal is to see the spirit and integrity of the game maintained, and if that means bringing in this rule we will do it."
England's top doubles pairing of Julie Bradbury and Joanne Wright, along with Simon Archer chose to prepare for this year's Atlanta Olympics instead of representing England at the world team championships.
It was a situation which infuriated English team manager Ciro Ciniglio who said "I will never let this situation happen again." Ciniglio said he would propose contracting players to play for England, or risk loss of funding.
The IBF have quizzed the Badminton Association of England on the reasons for sending under-strength men's and women's teams and why players were unavailable for the team events.
It will also investigate other countries who may have also fielded unusually weak teams.
A ban could be imposed on nations who continue to field under- strength sides in international competition.