Pressure blamed for loss

Pressure blamed for loss

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Agencies): Excessive mental strain is behind Indonesia's poor performance in the ongoing World Badminton Championships, a psychologist says.

Singgih Gunarsa, who is accompanying the Indonesian shuttlers during the two-week tournament, said that the players lacked mental preparation for the tiring competition which will end today.

"They played with too much on their minds and failed to overcome their extreme nervousness," Singgih told Antara.

He added that adding that the extraordinary pressure had adversely affected the players' masterful skills.

Singgih was commenting on defending world champion Susi Susanti's second straight loss to China's Ye Zhaoying within a week. He said that such heavy pressure had overwhelmed most of the Indonesian badminton team members.

Susi also crashed to a shock defeat to Bang Soo-hyun, but Indonesia went ahead to beat South Korea 3-1 in the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship semifinals last week.

Indonesia's dreams of bringing back the Sudirman Cup trophy were dashed on Sunday when Susi and ace men's singles Hariyanto Arbi lost to give China a 3-0 winning lead.

Indonesia, the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup holder, could face an even worse ending at the biennial championships after a series of defeats of its ace players.

The world badminton powerhouse swept three titles, the women's and men's singles and the men's doubles, in the last world championships in Birmingham. (amd)