PBSI targets men's doubles title at World Championships
PBSI targets men's doubles title at World Championships
JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI)
does not expect too much from the Sudirman Cup mixed team event
championship in May, but is upbeat about retaining at least the
men's doubles title at the subsequent World Championships.
Director of the national training center, Christian Hadinata,
admitted on Friday that Indonesia did not hold enough trump cards
to regain the Sudirman Cup.
"Of the five rubbers to be played, we reckon our biggest
chances to score come in the men's singles and doubles matches
only," he said.
Introduced in 1989, the tournament applies a best-of-five-
match format, with each team featuring its men's singles, women's
singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles
players.
Indonesia won the initial tournament, which was named after
the PBSI's first chairman, but has never triumphed since then. It
fell at the last hurdle at the hands of South Korea in Glasgow,
Scotland in 1997,
The Sudirman Cup is followed by the World Championships. Both
are biennial events.
Christian tipped Denmark as the strongest candidate to win the
Cup instead of China and defending champion South Korea.
"Denmark has players of about the same quality in the five
disciplines, while China will rely heavily on its women's team.
South Korea is a bit weaker than China currently," he said.
Christian said the retirement of former world women's singles
number one Susi Susanti would weaken the team's performance in
the event.
"Without Susi, we lose some of our confidence, not to mention
the fact that her successor Mia Audina has yet to live up to our
expectations," he said.
Mia, the toast of Indonesia's Uber Cup triumphs in 1994 and
1996, suffered a major setback last season. She managed only to
win the title at the Indonesia Open here last November, and
crashed out in the early rounds at the Asian Games and the
Copenhagen Masters recently.
Upbeat
When it comes to the World Championships, Christian was
optimistic that Indonesia could land titles other than the men's
doubles crown it will defend in Glasgow.
"We are setting our sights on retaining the men's doubles
title, but our chances look great as well in the men's singles
and mixed doubles," Christian said.
Debutants Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto salvaged
Indonesia's pride in 1997 by beating the Malaysian pair of Cheah
Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock for the men's doubles crown. The young
pairing followed in the footsteps of their seniors, Ricky Subagja
and Rexy Mainaky, who won the title in 1995.
Christian said it was difficult for him to predict which
Indonesian pair would maintain the country's supremacy in the
men's doubles competition.
"We just expect many of our men's doubles partnerships to
qualify for the championships," he said.
Candra will defend his title with new partner Tony Gunawan
after Sigit was banned one year for testing positive in a drug
case last August.
In the men's singles, Hendrawan is likely the best hope to win
the title.
Christian said now that the country's badminton top flight
concentrates on the two major events, they must be exempted from
other international duties, including the Southeast Asian (SEA)
Games in August.
"The likes of Hendrawan, Ricky and Rexy, even Candra and Tony,
must not compete in the SEA Games, scheduled in August, any more.
It's no longer a competition that tests their caliber," Christian
said.
"I don't mean to denigrate the SEA Games but we must look
ahead to the next and bigger event: the 2000 Olympics," he said.
(yan)