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.