Injuries befall RI shuttlers bound for SEA Games
Injuries befall RI shuttlers bound for SEA Games
JAKARTA (JP): Mia Audina was injured in Singapore Friday night as fellow members of the national team gathered at Senayan for 40 minutes of meditation in preparation for the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A bad omen? Could be. Mia, second only to badminton queen Susi Susanti, was forced to give up her quarterfinal fight at the ongoing World Grand Prix Badminton Finals in Singapore.
Worse than that, she may have lost her chance to defend Indonesia at the Dec. 9 to Dec. 17 games in Chiang Mai.
Gucharan Singh, the International Badminton Federation doctor who treated her, predicted that Mia could require up to two weeks to recover fully. Her coach, Triaji now has doubts as to whether Mia will play at the Chiang Mai games.
Mia won the first set 12-11. In the second set, Mia was leading 10-6 when she fell while returning a lob from China's Wang Chen. Singh rushed to help her, with the score at 10-7. After 10 minutes, Mia tried to resume the match. She replied to Wang's service, before grimacing with pain and collapsing. "I told her not to resume the match," Singh said.
Mia's injury, which lengthens the list of injured Indonesian SEA Games bound shuttlers, seems to show that the nearer the games draw, the more susceptible the Indonesian badminton team is to injury.
Mia's teammate, Hermawan, was injured when he took on, and was beaten by, Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark on Thursday.
Earlier, prior to the Grand Prix Finals, world number one men's doubles pair Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia were forced to withdraw when Ricky sustained a back injury which worsened during practice on Nov. 28.
And early last month, world number one Susi Susanti, also listed for the 18th SEA Games, strained the Achilles tendon in her right foot during a semifinal match against South Korea's Bang Soo-hyun at the China Open.
Are these injuries enough reason to be pessimistic?
Pessimism is unknown among the more than 400 athletes and officials who vowed "to give everything for my country" at the meditation gathering at Istora Senayan on Friday.
This holds true for Wienarto, the coach of the national volleyball team, who insists that "our chance for gold medals remains open" despite the fact that Thailand's team is better. Thailand finished fifth at the Asian Volleyball Championship in Seoul a few months ago, to which Indonesia did not send a team. The Thai team is made up of seasoned players, who have played at previous SEA Games. Indonesia's team, on the other hand, consists mostly of young, inexperienced players.
Indonesia is sending 691 athletes and officials to the 18th SAE Games at Chiang Mai. They were officially dispatched by President Soeharto at the State Palace on Friday and are scheduled to leave on Dec. 6. (arf)