Indonesia will win Thomas Cup: Finns, Swedes

JAKARTA (JP): "Nobody can beat mighty Indonesia" was the general consensus at yesterday's pre-match Thomas Cup interview.

This view was offered by both Sweden and Finland since Indonesia and China were not represented at the daily pre-match interview.

It was a sleeper of an event, especially since the reporters present seemed less than enthusiastic about asking questions, preferring to hold individual chats with the team managers at the end of the group interview.

Fortunately Sweden's team manager Jan-Olov Jacobson did notice the newly-imposed ban on smoking at Senayan indoor stadium, the venue for the championships. His comment on the matter came as a welcome break from the monotonous "How will the game turn out?" sort of questions asked over and over since the first day of the interview sessions.

"It's nice. It's tiring enough to play badminton without having to inhale the smoke," he explained.

Back to the Thomas Cup.

"I think Indonesia will win," forecast Jacobson.

"Nobody can beat Indonesia," chimed in Finland's manager Ronald von Hertzen.

Sharing their confidence, Indonesia's manager Lutfi Hamid said he was optimistic his team would beat China this evening.

"At least we hope to win 4-1," Lutfi said. "We will field our best line-up against the Chinese as we are out to top Group A."

Both Indonesia and China are already assured of places in the cross-over semifinals, having won their first two matches. This evening's clash between the arch rivals will determine which team will top the group.

Group champion

If Indonesia beats China, and it should barring a sudden collapse, the host team will emerge as the group's champion and will next take on the Group B runner-up in the semifinals scheduled for May 17-18. The Group B winner will face the Group A runner-up in the other semifinal.

Sweden, which will tackle Finland this evening in a consolation match between two also-rans, is also determined to win.

"We have one match left against Finland and we are not going to lose that," said Jacobson, who attributed his team's poor performance in its first two matches to the fact that Finland had to meet China first.

"The match yesterday (Thursday) with Indonesia was better," he added. "Although our team lost 0-5 to the hosts."

Hertzen was just as optimistic.

"Our players have played very well against the Swedes before and I hope they will once again perform up to expectations tomorrow," said Hertzen.

Both Sweden and Finland are no longer in the running for the semifinals as they have lost their first two group matches.

South Korea, the only team represented at the Uber Cup pre- match interview, expected a comfortable win against defending champion China.

"If Bang (Soo Hyun) wins in the opener, we will clinch a win," said team manager Kim Joong So. Bang, who was runner-up to Indonesia's badminton queen Susi Susanti at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, is currently ranked third in the world.

China and South Korea, which have contested the last three Uber Cup finals with the Chinese winning every time, are through to the semifinals from Group A after defeating Japan and Russia, respectively, on Thursday. (lem/bas)