Indonesia top seed in Asia Cup tournament

Indonesia top seed in Asia Cup tournament

SINGAPORE (AFP): Indonesia was Friday given top billing for the world's richest badminton tournament, the US$170,000 Asia Cup, as doubts were raised over the participation of India and its All-England champion Pullela Gopichand.

Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) honorary secretary Punch Gunalan left open the prospect of Thailand being a late addition to the men's team tournament if India arrives without its star player.

"Changes can still be made in the draw," said Gunalan on reports that Gopichand was concentrating on his preparation for the World Championships in Seville, Spain, at the end of May.

But tournament organizers said they had no reason to believe Gopichand would not be with the India team when it arrived in Singapore on Monday.

For the May 2 to May 6 Asia Cup in Singapore, the 1997 and 1999 champion Indonesia was drawn in Group A along with Korea, Hong Kong and host Singapore.

Group B comprises second-seeded China, two-time Asian Cup finalist Malaysia, Japan and India, which clinched its spot thanks to the success of its top singles player Gopichand who won the All-England singles title in March.

Seedings for the Cup were based on the latest world rankings of each player which put India marginally ahead of Thailand to clinch the final berth in the eight-team tournament.

Thailand would be seeded ahead of India without Gopichand, the world's fifth ranked player.

"We need to confirm whether Gopi is coming to Singapore or not," Gunalan said.

"Changes can still be made in the draw and Thailand may be invited to take part. After all even the last placed team collects $4,000."

Though Indonesia effectively has the best singles players in the tournament in Taufik Hidayat and Hendrawan, ranked third and 10th in the world, it can expect tough competition from China.

The Chinese challenge will be led by Chen Hong, who was beaten 15-12, 15-6 by Gopichand in the All-England final.

Singapore was seen as the dangerous outsider, holding a trump card in the form of Indonesian born Indra Wijaya as its second singles player behind Ronald Susilo.

Susilo is currently ranked 37th in the world and Indra is 89th, although the Indonesia-born Indra dropped all his ranking points when he migrated to Singapore.

The winning team in the tournament takes home $80,000 while the losing finalists pocket half that amount.