RI believes Sudirman Cup semis a certainty
RI believes Sudirman Cup semis a certainty
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) is optimistic of securing a semifinal berth in the 9th Sudirman Cup in May following the announcement of the draw on Monday.
PBSI's head of development affairs Icuk Sugiarto said Indonesia held a chance to win the mixed team event but conceded it would depend on wins by its men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles.
"At present, we will study our players because we hope they will be in top form when the Sudirman Cup is held in May," he said.
"I hope Taufik Hidayat, Candra Wijaya/Sigit, Luluk Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto, Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir will be at their best to make them very difficult to beat."
He said China was still the favorite in the Sudirman Cup with strong players in all divisions.
"All countries, including Indonesia, that will compete against China should be ready to lose two matches in the women's singles and women's doubles because the Chinese players are so strong at the moment," he said.
"But we could have a chance to steal points from the men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles."
He said 16 players -- consisting of five men's doubles players, three women's doubles players, three mixed double players, three men's singles and two women's singles -- were registered for the Sudirman Cup, but he did not name them.
A source at PBSI said likely team members were Taufik Hidayat, Soni Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso in the men's singles, Adrianti Firdasari and Maria Kristin in the women's singles, Candra/Sigit, Luluk/Alven, Flandi Limpele in the men's doubles, Jo Novita/Lita Nurlita and Greysia Polii in the women's doubles, and Nova/Lilyana in mixed doubles.
The International Badminton Federation (IBF) and the China Badminton Association announced on Monday that Indonesia was with China, Hong Kong and Sweden in Group 1B of the Sudirman Cup, to be held May 10-15.
Korea, Denmark, England and Thailand are in Group 1A, with Korea and Denmark favorites to advance to the semifinals.
The cup is named after Indonesia's "father of badminton", who headed PBSI during the country's dominance of the sport in the 1950s-1970s. Sudirman died at age 64 in 1986.
Indonesia won the inaugural event in Jakarta in 1989, Korea in 1991 and 1993, with China taking it on the next four occasions before Korea regained the cup in 2003.