KONI chief warns of poor preparation of shuttlers

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the National Sports Council (KONI) Wismoyo Arismunandar has reminded national shuttlers of the dangers of poor preparation, warning them that it might make the nation's gold target in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney unattainable.

Wismoyo was commenting on the shuttlers' failure in the All England badminton championship over the weekend, which Indonesia returned home empty-handed.

Wismoyo, who took a brief visit to Birmingham last week, said on Monday that in his opinion Indonesian shuttlers were not physically and mentally prepared and their motivation to be champions was lacking.

"The Chinese shuttlers and the other winners were better prepared than us. They were motivated to win. They were enthusiastic. We have to learn from them. We have to boost our physical stamina, mental abilities and motivation to win," he said.

He called on the shuttlers to learn from their failure, and use it to revive their motivation for the Olympics. He said that he would invite Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) officials for an evaluation.

"The failure must stimulate the shuttlers to try their best in the Olympics. They may lose at the All England, but they have to show the world that they can win in the Olympics," he said, adding he was still optimistic that national shuttlers could dominate the Olympics.

China's Xia Xuanze and Gong Zhichao won the men's and women's singles titles. Xia beat Indonesian Taufik Hidayat 15-6, 15-13, and Gong beat teammate Dai Yun 11-5, 8-11, 11-5.

The world's strongest women's doubles pair of Ge Fei/Gu Jun capped China's domination after overcoming the South Korean pair of Chung Jae-hee and Ra Kyung-min in straight sets, 15-5, 15-3.

South Korean swept the mixed doubles and men's doubles titles. Kim Dong-moon and Ra beat Liu Yong and Ge 15-10, 15-2, in the mixed doubles final while Ha Tae-kwon and Kim upset teammate Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung 15-4, 13-15, 17-15 for the men's doubles title.

Big hope

Separately, PBSI training director Christian Hadinata said Indonesia could only predict its gold chances in the Olympics after the Thomas and Uber Cup championships in Malaysia in May.

"We have to win the Thomas Cup, particularly our men's doubles, because they are our big hope. They have to be champions if we want to show the badminton world that we still exist," he was quoted by Antara as saying on Monday.

Wismoyo said he was expecting Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan to win the men's doubles because they were currently the world's top pair. Candra and Tony lost to Ha and Kim, the world no. 2 pair, in the semifinals in Birmingham.

"I have strong expectations that Candra and Tony can win the men's doubles final. They used to outclass Ha and Kim but they gave up to the same pair. We need to find out why," he said.

He also said China's men's singles coach Tong Sinfu used to coach the Indonesian shuttlers when he lived in Indonesia.

"Tong really understands Taufik. He can read Taufik's strategy well and he knows how to stop him. Well, that's called strategy. We once refused to grant Indonesian citizenship to Tong and now he has become like a boomerang for us," he said.

For the first time in the 100 years of the championships, not one European made the final of any of the five events -- a worrying statistic in an Olympic year -- and only four reached the semifinals out of a possible 32, Reuters reported on Monday.

Defeats suffered by world number one Peter Gade of Denmark and his fiancee Camilla Martin, the women's world champion, deepened the gloom. England's defending mixed doubles champions Simon Archer and Jo Goode also bit the dust.

It is only six months to the Olympics but Martin for one is thinking of taking a break after her straight-games defeat by Dai in Saturday's semifinals.

Gade had won his previous six tournaments but fell in the quarterfinals to another of the seemingly endless stream of Chinese talent. The defending champion told reporters: "I'm not a machine, I'm a human being."

Come the Olympics, Atlanta gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer- Larsen should be back on board for Denmark after missing the All Englands to help nurse his wife through illness.

But at 32 he faces a formidable task, leaving Gade and possibly ex-world champion Peter Rasmussen to fend off the might of China and Indonesia.