PBSI targets three titles at All England

PBSI targets three titles at All England

JAKARTA (JP): The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI)
targeted its shuttlers to grab three titles from the four-star
2001 Yonex All England Open, mainly from the men's and mixed
events, the training director of the Indonesian Badminton Center
(PBI) Christian Hadinata said.

"We still have chances in the men's singles, men's doubles and
mixed doubles events because there are no dominating countries in
these events," he told reporters on Thursday.

"The strength is somewhat evenly distributed in these events,
unlike the women's division which is dominated by Chinese
shuttlers," he added.

Christian was speaking at a farewell ceremony at the center in
Cipayung, East Jakarta. The shuttlers will leave for England on
Saturday evening. The Open will take place from March 7 - March
11.

Meanwhile, women's singles coach Verawaty Fadjrin said she did
not expect her shuttlers to attain the highest achievement due to
their poor condition.

"I only expect them to equal last year's result. At least they
should win in the early rounds," she said.

Indonesia only managed to take the men's doubles title when
Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan won it in the 1999 All England.
Young singles player Taufik Hidayat only finished as runner-up,
bowing out to Dane Peter Gade Christensen in the final.

Chinese Ye Zhaoying took home the women's singles title. The
women's doubles title went to the South Korean pair of Chung Jae-
hee and Ra Kyung-min while the British pair of Simon Archer and
Jo Goode won the mixed doubles title.

According to the draw published at www.worldbadminton.net on
Thursday, top seed Christensen is set to meet either seventh seed
Indonesian Marlev Mainaky, who takes on Daniel Erikkson of Sweden
in the first round, or 14th seed Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia in the
first leg of the quarterfinals of the men's singles match.

Taufik, fifth seeded in the event, will see Michael Edge of
England in the first round. If Taufik can proceed smoothly, he is
likely to face in the quarterfinals Sydney Olympics gold medalist
Ji Xinpeng of China, the third seed in this event.

In the second leg, second seed Xia Xuanze of China is unlikely
to face any difficulties in overcoming unseeded Muhammad Hazif
Hashim of Malaysia in the first round. In the third round, he
must outplay Indonesian Budi Santoso to gain a place in the
quarterfinals.

Sydney Olympics silver medalist Hendrawan of Indonesia, seeded
fourth in this event, is likely to challenge either Kenneth
Jonassen from Denmark, seeded eight, or 13th seed from South
Korea Lee Hyun-il in the second leg of the quarterfinals.

In the women's singles, Indonesian Lydia Djaelawijaya will
face tough opponent Kelly Morgan of Wales in the first round. If
she can get through, Lydia will face the winner between Dutch
Karina de Wit and Japanese Miho Tanaka.

Another Indonesian, Ellen Angelina is expected to beat Rebecca
Pantaney of England before meeting Chinese Xu Li in the second
round. While Indonesian Yuli Marfuah is due to meet Gao Yuan of
Scotland in the first round. All the Indonesian women are
unseeded.

Men's doubles players Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian, the only
top seeds from Indonesia, will have a first-round bye. In the
second round, they will meet duo Chew Choong Eng and Chan Chong
Ming of Malaysia, who also received a bye.

If Flandy and Eng Hian survive the third round, they are
likely to meet Michael Lamp and Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark in the
quarterfinals. The Danish pair are the seventh seeds.

Indonesia's other men's doubles Tony and Halim Haryanto will
meet Chries Davies and Matthew Hughes of Wales, while Bambang
Suprianto and Tri Kusheryanto will face the Chinese pair Liu Yong
and Chen Qiqiu in the first round.

In other first round matches, Candra and partner Sigit
Budiarto will face Dutch pair Quinten van Dalm and Dennis Lens.

The Indonesian veteran men's doubles pair of Ricky Achmad
Subagdja and Antonius Budi, who have to travel to Birmingham at
their own expense, will face host pair of Chris Hunt and Julian
Robertson.

Indonesian women's doubles players Carmelita and Deyana
Lomban, seeded five, will face Joanne Muggeridge and Felicity
Gallup of Wales, while compatriot Minarti Timur and Emma Ermawati
will face Ra and Lee Kyung-won of South Korea in the first round.

In another leg, Indarti Issoliana and Etty Tantri will face
Megumi Oniike and Kaori Mori of Japan.

Minarti, who partners Bambang in the mixed doubles, will meet
Jim Laugesen and Pernille Harder of Denmark in the first round.
While Tri and partner Indarti will face Chris Davies and Robyn
Ashworth of Wales.

In the second leg, Emma, who partners Wahyu Agung, will
compete with Bjoern Siegemund and Nicol Pitro of Germany. (nvn)