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.