Nana gives Indonesia hope in women's badminton

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Fransisca Ratnasari "Nana" Haris collapsed with emotion after seeing a backhand shot from world No. 3 and tournament top-seed Pi Hongyan fall out.

Nana couldn't hold back the tears and she disbelievingly covered her face after defeating the top-ranked player in a three-game thriller 5-11, 11-7, 13-12 at the Indonesia Open badminton championship here on Thursday.

The 18-year-old, world No. 120, acknowledged the spectators and received a standing ovation from the stand inside the Bung Karno Tennis Indoor stadium.

While it was only an early third-round match, local badminton fans who, missing the days of badminton heroines like Susi Susanti, were enthusiastic about the win in the wake of generally woeful performances by Indonesia's top women's shuttlers.

Nana may have been stopped in the quarterfinals on Friday but her scalp of Pi Hongyan was considered by many as giving her and the women's game a vital boost.

She said that defeating Pi was her biggest achievement in a love affair with badminton that began when she was eight years old.

"This is my best achievement... I hope I can carry on with that winning form," she said.

Nana's said she believed her win was attributable to her focused work for years in overhauling her playing defects. She had used to face problems covering her front area after making long shots from the back court.

"I have been training hard to improve these weaknesses. I feel better," she said.

Nana, who also reached the quarterfinals in last year's Indonesia Open, can now hope for better performances after she fell to a string of dismal runs in the preceding tournaments this year.

She exited early in the World Junior Individual Championship held in Canada, last October.

She also performed poorly at the Cheers Asian Satellite 2004 Singapore in September and at the Vietnam Satellite.

Coach Hendrawan said Nana's mental attitude helped her win the match.

"Our women's shuttlers have problems with their attitudes. Fransisca was able to win the match as she stayed positive," he said.

"If we talk about our women shuttlers' skills, there are still a lot of problems that must be improved; there is a lot of work to do."

"Fransisca's win over the top seed is the beginning of a long journey for our women's shuttlers to re-enter the world ranks."