Men's doubles team expected to do well: PBSI

Men's doubles team expected to do well: PBSI

By Primastuti Handayani

DENPASAR (JP): Indonesia's new partnerships in the men's
doubles are expected to create surprises in the US$150,000 Sanyo
Indonesia Open, which will start here on Wednesday. The new pairs
of Flandy Limpele and Wahyu Agung and another pair of Antonius
and Halim Heryanto have a good chance to reach the quarterfinals.

The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) national
training director, Christian Hadinata, said on Monday that Flandy
and Agung would only be seriously challenged by the Danish duo of
Michael Sogaard and Jim Laugesen if they both reached the
quarterfinals.

Antonius and Halim will most likely meet Jens Eriksen and
Jesper Larsen of Denmark also in the quarterfinals.

"Both sudden doubles have a great chance to create surprises.
We can see from Agung's performance in the men's doubles during
the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam early
this month that he plays better in the men's doubles than in his
speciality of mixed doubles. I hope he can maintain his
performance in the men's doubles as he did in the Games,"
Christian said.

"We also hope the situation will not be too different for
Antonius and Halim. Antonius and his usual partner Denny Kantono
lost to Eriksen and Larsen. We want to see if he can manage to
overcome the Danish pair with a younger partner."

Halim used to partner with Tony Gunawan before the latter was
switched to pair with Candra Wijaya. Candra himself used to
partner with Sigit Budiarto, who is banned from competition until
Nov. 15 due to consuming anabolic steroid nandrolone.

Christian said top seeded Candra and Tony must be aware of
Thai pair Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Pansisavas, SEA Games
gold medalists, if they meet in the quarterfinals.

Indonesian old hands Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, a 1996
Olympics gold medalists, will most likely face Swedish number one
pair Peter Axelsson and Par-Gunnar Jonsson in the quarterfinals.

"So far, Ricky and Rexy have never lost to the Swedes. I hope
they can maintain the tradition. But I'm a bit worried as I see
they lack motivation compared to the Swedish pair."

"I notice the Swedish pair are still highly motivated during
their sparring training at the Indonesian Badminton Center in
Cipayung, East Jakarta," he said.

In the men's singles, Christian saw two players -- Ronny
Agustinus and Marlev Mainaky -- as the dark horses in the
tournament.

"They both are potentially a threat to their opponents,
especially the European players. Ronny and Marlev are very good
both in offense and defense. They also have good posture. But
they need to improve their physical condition as their type of
playing is really demanding," he said.

Ronny will most likely challenge Peter Gade Christensen, the
1999 All England champion, in the third round. While Marlev will
probably face Wong Choon Han, the Malaysia Open champion, in the
second round.

Budi Santoso will most likely meet Roslin Hashim of Malaysia
in the third round.

"Budi will have to work hard to overcome Roslin as they both
have a similar type of playing which relies on long rallies."

Singapore Open champion Hariyanto Arbi, who plans to move to
Singapore, will probably meet old hand Rashid Sidek of Malaysia
in the third round.

"Observing Hariyanto's recent performance, I believe he can
overcome Rashid. In their last meet in the 1996 Olympics,
Hariyanto lost to Rashid, but the situation is completely
different now," Christian said.