Injured Alan out of All-England team

Injured Alan out of All-England team

JAKARTA (JP): Barcelona Olympic badminton gold medalist Alan
Budikusuma has been dropped from Indonesia's All-England team due
to a foot injury, says Iwan Setiawan, an official from the
Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI).

Alan's absence, however, will not seriously affect Indonesia's
chances for a victory in the men's singles, suggested Iwan prior
to the team's departure for Birmingham on Saturday.

Alan advanced to the semifinals in last year's All-England but
fell to compatriot Hariyanto Arbi, who emerged as the winner.

Another absentee will be Tiong Ping, one of the team's younger
talents. Both Alan and Tiong Ping were scheduled to lead the
pack of Indonesian second stringers at the Asia Cup badminton
championships in China slated for April 5-9.

The Asia Cup is the first international championship to serve
as a qualifying round for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Because the time interval between the two events is very
close, Iwan said PBSI would not risk sending its top players to
the Asia Cup championships. "Rather than having them exhausted
and having their rankings decline, we decided to send our top
players to subsequent tournaments to increase their points," Iwan
said.

Iwan said PBSI has asked the National Sports Council to
provide Rp 2 billion to finance the Indonesian badminton team in
their preparations for the Atlanta Olympics.

The 29-strong Indonesian All-England team is expected to win
three titles at the All-England championships, which would be a
repeat of last year's triple sweep.

The team is made up of such top world players as men's singles
champion Hariyanto Arbi, badminton queen Susi Susanti and the
solid pair of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky. (arf)