No women shuttlers at All England

No women shuttlers at All England

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following injuries suffered by several members of the Uber Cup
squad, the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) has decided
to pull all its women players from the All England and Swiss Open
Grand Prix tournaments.

"The players have yet to recover from injuries suffered during
the Asia/Oceania qualifying round in Melbourne, Australia. This
has forced the PBSI to withdraw them from the All England and
Swiss Open," the PBSI's secretary-general was quoted as saying by
Antara on Thursday.

"It is also part of our strategy to groom our shuttlers for
facing the final rounds in Guangzhou, China, in May."

"Not only are some of our players injured, but most of our
players still have to improve their physical fitness. It is
better to prepare them at home," added Lutfi, who is also the
project manager for both the Uber Cup and the men's Thomas Cup
team.

The All England is scheduled for March 5 to March 10 while the
Swiss Open is from March 12 until March 17. Meanwhile, the final
rounds of the Uber Cup are to be held from May 9 until May 19.

Indonesia could only finish fourth behind South Korea, Hong
Kong and Japan in Melbourne.

The three other finalists are Denmark, Germany and the
Netherlands, which had their qualifying round in Eindhoven, the
Netherlands. Host China is also the defending champion and gets
an automatic final berth.

Lutfi also ruled out the possibility of sending younger
players to the All England and Swiss Open saying it would be a
huge burden for them.

"The All England is such a prestigious event. Most top world
players will be there. The players will be deeply affected if
they lose there," he said.

"The PBSI, however, will field all of our women players in the
Japan Open from April 2 to April 7 to evaluate their progress. We
expect them to reach their secondary peak there. Their primary
peak should be reached in Guangzhou."

Therefore, Lutfi said, the PBSI would not send a full team to
the Korean Open from March 26 to March 31 as it was too close to
the Japan Open.

The decision not to send the women players also means that the
mixed doubles pairs will also lose their chance of having two
outings.