Malaysia's Sidek enters World Cup badminton

JAKARTA (JP): Rashid Sidek will lead a four-strong Malaysian team to the US$180,000 World Cup badminton championships, to be held here from Sept. 13 to 17.

Organizers of the invitational tournament said yesterday that Malaysia will parade its Thomas Cup backbones who also include Ong Ewe Hock and world's doubles team number three Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock.

The Malaysian ace shuttlers will add zest to the annual event which is restricted only to players who lead the current world rankings, after Chinese top flight confirmed their entry last week.

The World Cup, the 15th since 1981, will pit the world's top 16 singles players both in men's and ladies' events; best eight men's pairs and eight women's tandems; and eight top ranked mixed doubles teams who play round robin matches.

World women's singles champion Ye Zhaoying and rising star Sun Jun are expected to be put under the spotlight by Indonesian badminton fans for their upset victories in the World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland in May.

Ye toppled Susi Susanti twice to win China the Sudirman Cup mixed team title and the women's singles crown. Sun upset Hariyanto Arbi in the deciding match of the Sudirman Cup final.

China will also field Han Jingna, runner-up to Ye in the world championships, national women's singles number one Wang Chen. In the men's singles, Sun will join forces with Dong Jiong to pose a serious hurdle to Indonesia's clean sweep campaign.

Men's pair number five of Jiang Xin and Huang Zhangzhong, who upset Indonesian world number one team of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky in the U.S. Open semifinals, have also confirmed their entry. (amd)