Mega to pay historic visit on Thomas, Uber Cup shuttlers

Mega to pay historic visit on Thomas, Uber Cup shuttlers

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's Thomas Cup and Uber Cup teams will depart for
China, in the highest of spirits, with President Megawati
Soekarnoputri scheduled to see the teams off at the Indonesian
Badminton Center (PBI) in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Saturday.

This will be the first visit by an Indonesian president to the
center which has provided the country with so many glorious
moments.

"Ibu Mega will bless the team during the visit, as well as
witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the
Ministry of National Education on the reintroduction of badminton
to elementary school students," the spokesman for the Badminton
Association of Indonesia (PBSI), Riza Primadi, said on Friday.

The men's Thomas Cup and the women's Uber Cup finals will take
place from May 9 to May 19 at the Tianhe Sports Center in
Guangzhou, China.

Riza was speaking during a media conference at the
headquarters of private television station Trans TV, which will
broadcast the Thomas and Uber Cups.

And badminton commentator Toto Sudarmadji urged the Thomas Cup
team to do its best to ensure Indonesia won its fifth consecutive
title, which would also preventing host China from making some
history.

"We have defended the Thomas Cup title ever since we grabbed
it in Jakarta in 1994 from Malaysia, which won it in 1992.

"If we defend the title again, our shuttlers will prevent
China from collecting all three of badminton's coveted trophies,"
he said.

Host China currently holds both the Uber Cup title it won in
Malaysia in 2000, and the mixed-team Sudirman title it won in
Seville, Spain, in 2001.

Trans TV will cooperate with state-run TVRI to broadcast the
Thomas Cup and Uber Cup nationwide.

"So far we only have coverage in six cities, so the
cooperation with TVRI will mean a larger proportion of the
population will be able to watch the national shuttlers in
action," Trans TV's vice president and operational director, Alex
Kumara, said during the conference.

"But due to technical difficulties, we will only be able to
broadcast live the semifinal and final matches, regardless of
whether the Indonesian team is in them or not.

"To make up for it, we will broadcast a 30-minute report at 11
p.m. Jakarta time during the qualifying rounds to keep our
spectators informed," he said.

Trans TV spent some Rp 3.5 billion (US$376,000) for TV rights
to the event. The majority of this, or $110,000, went to buy the
broadcast rights from the International Management Group.

Another $60,000 is for the satellite connection.

The Uber Cup semifinals are scheduled for May 15 at 1:30 p.m.
and 7:30 p.m. in China, which is 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Jakarta
time. The semifinals for the Thomas Cup will take place on the
evenings of May 16 and May 17.

The Uber Cup final will be broadcast on May 18 in the evening,
while the Thomas Cup final will be broadcast on May 19 in the
afternoon.