PBSI denies bidding for Thomas and Uber Cups

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)