PBSI denies bidding for Thomas and Uber Cups
JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) denied on Wednesday it was bidding to host the 2002 Thomas and Uber Cups, pointing to its own financial straits and the current uncertainty in Indonesia.
"PBSI cannot afford to pay the fee to the Malaysian-based Gold Bridge Engineering and Construction, which holds the right to stage the events, considering our financial condition," PBSI secretary-general Leo Chandra Wiranata said on Wednesday.
"The Malaysian company has not even approached us about hosting the prestigious biennial events. But we have still received offers from other brokers about holding the events."
Gold Bridge acquired the rights to the events last week after paying US$1.5 million to the International Badminton Federation (IBF). The company is currently seeking sponsors and cities to host the events.
Malaysia's Berita Harian daily reported that Indonesia was one of the candidates, along with Beijing, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, to host the events.
"Indonesia would surely benefit if it hosted the events. Unfortunately, current conditions prevent PBSI from bidding to host the events.
"It would be different if IBF directly appointed us to host the events, otherwise we must cover all the expenses," Leo said.
Berita Harian also reported that Gold Bridge was doubtful about staging the events in Malaysia after successfully staging the events in the country in 2000.
Malaysia hopes to follow Hong Kong, which hosted the events in 1996 and 1998.
"Malaysia is indeed a strategic place to stage the events but we have several problems such as sponsorship, expenses and our national team's achievements, which have forced us to look for another country," Gold Bridge president Datuk Mustafa Abdul Hamid was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.
"We have three other candidates to host the events: Beijing, Hong Kong and Jakarta, each of which has its advantages which makes it difficult to choose. But we will settle the matter before the Sudirman Cup and World Championship in May," he said.
Leo said Hong Kong would probably find it difficult to find sponsors for the events. "The Hong Kong Open organizers suffered substantial losses and it would be quite difficult to draw more sponsors now."
Meanwhile, Beijing reportedly denied bidding to host the events. "China has never considered hosting the 2002 Thomas Cup and Uber Cup," an official at the Badminton Association of China was quoted as saying by satusports.com on Sunday.
Presidency
Leo also said PBSI had not thrown its weight behind any other candidate for the IBF presidency but Indonesian Justian Suhandinata.
"PBSI has never supported any candidate but Justian. We are not campaigning for him, but just allowing the system to proceed," Leo said, adding that the new IBF president would be elected on June 3 in Seville, Spain.
Leo was responding to statements by Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) official Punch Gunalan, who was quoted by Malaysia's Bernama news agency as saying earlier this week that Indonesia supported Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah for the presidency.
Bernama also said badminton powerhouses China, Denmark, South Korea and Malaysia backed the sultan, who is the favorite to replace outgoing IBF president Lu Zhenrong of China.
The five countries, each of which owns five votes, are among the 50 out of 140 IBF members that reportedly support the sultan's candidacy.
Antara quoted Leo as saying that PBSI would maintain a low profile in the race for the IBF presidency, adding that Justian had a slight chance to win the election.
Another candidate for the IBF presidency is ABC president Korn Dabbaransi of Thailand. (nvn)