Indonesians has biggers chance in All-England
Indonesians has biggers chance in All-England
BIRMINGHAM, England (Agencies): Indonesia's all-conquering badminton players look set to land the singles titles at the All- England championships this week even without Olympic men's champion Alan Budikusuma.
A foot injury ruled out Alan, who was pulled off the team late last week as they were heading for the airport.
But the Indonesian men have such force in depth they are hardly likely to notice his absence and their cause was strengthened on Monday night with news that top European Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen would miss the tournament.
Denmark's Stuer-Lauridsen has been the bulwark against Asian dominance in recent years but has not been able to join such great Danes as four-times champion Morten Frost on the All- England winners' list.
Stuer-Lauridsen, the fifth seed, has been suffering from back trouble for three months and decided to withdraw when he discovered the Birmingham timetable.
With no singles matches scheduled for yesterday it would have meant Stuer-Lauridsen testing his back to the limit with two matches today and another two tomorrow.
"My back is getting much better but I am not ready for a program like that at such a high level as the All-England," said the 24-year-old.
Chinese top seeds Ge Fei and Gu Jun are out of the women's doubles because Ge Fei injured her back in training a week ago.
The injury also affects the mixed doubles where Ge Fei and her partner Liu Jianhun were seeded two.
Denmark's Ib Frederiksen is the first former All-England champion to be required to qualify and is now one victory away from making the tournament.
Frederiksen, now 32, became the first unseeded singles title winner at Wembley in 1988. He has emerged from a three-year retirement, beating Etienne Thobois of France and England's Roger Mistri to move within one more victory of a place in the competition proper.
First hat trick
The Indonesians are led by top-seeded Hariyanto Arbi, the 1993 and 1994 winner who is trying to become the first player to capture three successive singles titles here since his great compatriot Rudy Hartono more than 20 years ago.
Rudy won seven in succession up to 1974 and an eighth two years later. Since then, no man or woman has captured more than two on the trot.
The threats to Hariyanto come from compatriots led by 1991 champion Ardy Wiranata, last year's finalist and second seed, and world champion Joko Suprianto, losing finalist in 1990 and 1993.
Even with Alan out, Indonesia has eight of the 16 men's seeds.
Indonesia has eclipsed the threat posed by China through the 1980s after it became member of the international fraternity again.
The last of China's five men's titles since 1983 went to Liu Jun in 1992 and its top-rated player this time, Dong Jiong, is only one of the four fifth seeds.
It has just one other men's seed, a far cry from its dominating days through the 1980s.
Indonesia holds the Thomas and Uber Cup men's and women's team titles and its leading woman, Susi Susanti, is the world, Olympic and All-England champion, a title she has won four years out of the last five.
She missed out in 1992 when she suffered a shock third-round defeat by China Ye Zhaoying, a loss she avenged as she regained the title a year later.
The second seed is Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea, who has not managed a victory over Susanti in more than two years.
Indonesia also has the top two seeded teams in the men's doubles but they are less imposing in the women's and mixed doubles where the other nations have their best title chances.