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.