Malaysia, Indonesia's shuttlers expect to meet in finals
By Primastuti Handayani
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Malaysia is expecting yet another final showdown with archrival Indonesia in the men's badminton team event at the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here.
Only Thailand will stand between second-seed Malaysia and the gold-medal match at Hassanal Bolkiah Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, while reigning champion Indonesia's path to the final looks clear.
Badminton, one of the most popular sports in the region, begins on Sunday with the team events.
Malaysian coach Misbun Sidek, however, can not wait for a rematch with Indonesia, which could serve as a litmus test for Malaysia's bid for 2000 Olympic badminton gold.
"Malaysia and Indonesia stand an equal chance. We are fielding young teams who still have to prove their ability to overcome the mental pressure of playing in a multisport event," the former Malaysian badminton great said during a practice session on Friday.
The badminton team events will use the same format as the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup championships, in which a team plays three singles and two doubles matches.
Misbun said Indonesia's men's pairs posed the most danger to Malaysia.
"Indonesia is likely to sweep the doubles matches. If they can win a singles match, then it's all over," he said.
Indonesian coach Joko Suprianto also predicted a close battle with Malaysia for the SEA Games gold.
He said the final match would be decided when young Indonesian shuttler Taufik Hidayat played Wong Choon Han in the opening singles match.
"Many people doubt Taufik has the maturity to play the first singles match, but I believe he will do his best, thanks to his experience as a member of the national team for the Sudirman Cup and World Championships in May," Joko said.
Taufik, the 1999 Brunei Open champion, said he would not crack under the pressure, and was ready to lead Indonesia to victory in the team event and crown himself the singles champion as well.
"I'm well-prepared. I'm poised to take revenge for a defeat to Roslin, who beat me at the 1998 Asian Games," Taufik said of the Malaysian number two.
Roslin was equally upbeat about his chances of victory in the team and singles events, and said top-seeded Taufik was his main rival.
"It will be our second meeting since the Asian Games. It's hard to predict the outcome of the possible rematch, because we may have developed completely different strategies," Hashim said.
Challenger
In discussing the expected Malaysia-Indonesia final matchup, Wong, the 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, said Taufik would be difficult to overcome.
"I never met him before, but I'll see who's better between us on the court," said the 22-year-old shuttler. He added that he only trained for two weeks for the biennial event.
Malaysia Open champion Wong is seeded second behind Taufik in the singles event. He is tipped to meet another Indonesian, Ronny Agustinus, in the semifinals.
"I've met him twice and am 1-1 against him. He will be my toughest challenger going into the final," Wong said of Ronny.
Indonesian players have practiced on the badminton courts here twice and a number of them complained about the strong wind.
"It's a bit windy inside, but I don't know if the wind will be this strong when there are a lot of spectators," said women's singles player Cindana Hartono.
Men's doubles specialist Eng Hian concurred, but still seemed confident of his chances.
"Me and Flandy will manage to overcome the strong wind, mainly because this is not the first time we played here," Eng said. The pair played here in the Grand Prix Finals in February.
Some players also said the shuttlecocks were slower than the ones they used at home.
"We have to hit it very hard, otherwise it won't go across the net," Cindana said.
But women's doubles specialist Cynthia Tuwankotta said she had no problem with the shuttlecocks.
The Indonesian men's badminton team is made up of Taufik Hidayat, Ronny Agustinus, Johan Hadikusuma, Jeffer Rosobin, Flandy Limpele, Eng Hian, Wahyu Agung and Halim Heryanto. On the women's side is Cindana, Lydia Djaelawidjaja, Ellen Angelina, Yuli Marfuah, Cynthia, Etty, Emma and Indarti Issoliana.