Indonesians look to restore old order at All England
Indonesians look to restore old order at All England
LONDON (Reuter): Indonesians will be looking to restore the
old order at this week's All England badminton championships
ahead of the Atlanta Olympics.
Last year's All England threw up two shock winners in the
shape of a Dane thought by some to have seen his best days and a
Swedish woman born in China.
For once the vast array of top Indonesians, including Joko
Suprianto, Haryanto Arbi and Ardy Wiranata and on the men's side,
and Susi Susanti for the women, were eased aside.
Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen took the men's crown and Lim Xiaoqing
the women's.
Hoyer-Larsen is back to defend his title at the championships'
home in Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.
But Lim, who beat Denmark's Camilla Martin in last year's
final, is an absentee after a fax arrived at organizers'
headquarters mentioning an unspecified injury.
Officials are hoping there will be no more withdrawals ahead
of Tuesday's first day.
Details of the draw were delayed this year on the orders of
the International Badminton Federation who feared a rush of
withdrawals from players who have already collected enough
Olympic qualifying points.
The tournament is the penultimate in which players can gain --
or lose -- points before the March 31 deadline.
The singles action starts on Wednesday with Hoyer-Larsen,
seeded two, up against Russia's top player Andrei Antropov, who
can be an awkward opponent on his day.
England's Darren Hall, a former European champion, is also in
the same half of the draw as Hoyer-Larsen and in two recent
events has recently stretched the Dane to three tight games.
Top seed Suprianto looks to have an easy early passage, but
any one of his top compatriots is capable of lifting the title.
Five the leading seven men's seeds are Indonesian.
In the women's event, Susi's old dominance is less assured
these days as China's Ye Zhaoying and South Korea's Bang Soo-hyun
keep up the pressure.
Ye is top seed, with Susanti at two and Bang three but a major
tournament title cannot be long delayed for Indonesian teenager
Mia Audina.
Just under 360 players from 36 different countries are taking
part in Birmingham with competition in the three doubles events
as fierce as ever.
Asians and Danes are expected to dominate but home supporters
will be looking to England's top women's duo of Julie Bradbury
and Joanne Wright.
The pair have had an excellent 12 months, including victory in
last year's Malaysian Open when they beat the formidable world
champions from South Korea, Gil Young-ah and Jang Hye-ock.