KL's biggest team set for Indonesia Open
JAKARTA (JP): Malaysian ace shuttlers are listed among the big names who will compete in the Indonesia Open badminton championships in Yogyakarta next month
However, there have been questions about their entry due to the busy August programs in which they have to don the national colors in the Commonwealth Games.
A pack of Malaysian arms made up of 14 players, spearheaded by men's singles Rashid Sidek and Ong Ewe Hock and doubles specialists Cheah Soon Kit, Soo Beng Kiang, Tan Kim her and Yap Kim Hock, were included in the name list disclosed by the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) yesterday.
The number put Malaysia as the biggest visiting team at the Aug. 10-14 world grand prix tournament which offers a total of US$160,000 in cash prizes.
With the Commonwealth Games opened just three days after the Indonesia Open, Malaysian ace players could become major absentees, tournament's organizers said.
They are curious about whether the Malaysians have enough recovery time before entering the Aug. 18-28 Games. Rashid, Commonwealth Games winner, and company are tipped to meet other world-rated shuttlers in the World Cup championships in Ho Chi Minh City a week before they fly for Yogyakarta.
Rashid opted a withdrawal from the Singapore Open in the last minutes last week due to hamstring injury.
Other participants
Other 27 shuttlers from Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands have also registered themselves for the Indonesia Open.
More participants, mainly from China, Japan, Thailand, England, are expected to join the five-star event to be held in a small town situated around 650 kilometers east to Jakarta.
Indonesia will field a massive team of 200 in the championships, the 13th edition of the annual meet, in a bid to win as many titles as possible. Chinese women's singles Ye Zhaoying denied the host team of producing a clean sweep here last year.
PBSI campaign looks so ambitious that it suggested world top- ranked men's doubles of Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja to skip the World Cup they won last year. The pair, who have swept three straight victories this year, are expected to retain their Indonesia Open crown.
All Indonesia's star-studded players who formed triumphant Thomas Cup and Uber Cup teams last May will definitely turn up for the tournament.
Meanwhile, organizers of the badminton event are scrambling for the main sponsorship commitment. Many companies said they were prepared to sign sponsorship deal if at least 10 countries are represented in the tournament. (amd)