PBSI to reconsider Olympics target
JAKARTA (JP): Disappointing play by Indonesian shuttlers in the US$120,000 V6 Danish Open in Vejle, Denmark, last week has caused some worry at the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI).
The PBSI official in charge of athlete development, Christian Hadinata, said on Monday that due to the poor results in Denmark, the association would have difficulty setting its targets for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
"We expected them to reach the finals and improve their world rankings. We'll have difficulty predicting their future performances due to their inconsistent play in tournaments. Their up-and-down form is really shocking. Although we have some time, it's difficult to set a target with their inconsistent form," he said.
The women's doubles team of Elysa Nathanael and Deyana Lomban were the only Indonesians to reach the semifinals of the four- star tournament, where they bowed out to China's second seeded pairing of Gao Ling and Qin Yiyuan. The Chinese duo went on to win the title, defeating compatriots Chen Lin and Jiang Xuelian 15-12, 15-8.
Christian focused on the poor form of Indonesia Open champion Lidya Djaelawidjaja, who crashed out in the first round in Denmark to qualifier Sun Jian of China.
"We expected her to gain more self-confidence by winning the Indonesia Open. Lidya has speed and good technical skills which can trouble her opponents. I'm not sure if her poor form was caused by a lack of confidence or something else."
In the men's singles, Indonesia failed to send one of its shuttlers to the semifinals. Third seeded Taufik Hidayat fell in the quarterfinals to veteran Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, who eventually won the tournament with a 17-15, 15-4 victory over Wong Choon Han of Malaysia.
Fourth seeded Hariyanto Arbi also fell in the quarterfinals, losing to Wong, while seventh seeded Marlev Mainaky failed to repeat his success over Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark, losing to the tournament's second-seed in the quarterfinals.
"On paper, one of our men's singles should have reached the semifinals or even the final. Taufik cannot lose to Hoyer-Larsen, who is about twice as old as him. And Marlev could not show that his victory over Gade Christensen in the Indonesia Open was not a fluke.
"In the men's doubles, only newcomers Ade Lukas and Santoso Sugiharjo showed good form by eliminating sixth seeded Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun of China. Unfortunately, their veteran teammates were disappointing. Flandy and Eng Hian, top seeded here, should not have lost to unseeded Martin Lundgaard and Lars Paaske, while second seeded Antonius and Denny Kantono must not lose to Jim Laugesen and Michael Sogaard," Christian said.
Lundgaard and Paaske won the doubles title by defeating Laugesen and Sogaard 15-13, 15-10 in an all-Danish final.
"The top and second seeded teams losing in the semifinals to less powerful doubles teams is pathetic. They did not show their world-class technical skills.
"But I'm somewhat happy because Lukas and Santoso managed to reach the quarters. It showed that they have the potential to replace the veteran players in the future," Christian said.
Camilla Martin of Denmark took the women's singles title on Sunday, defeating Zhou Mi of China 8-11, 11-3, 11-1, while China's mixed doubles team of Liu Yong and Ge Fe bested compatriots Zhang Jun and Gao Ling 15-12, 17-14. (yan)